{"id":177836,"date":"2025-09-29T15:30:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-29T15:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/177836\/"},"modified":"2025-09-29T15:30:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T15:30:09","slug":"pilbara-measles-outbreak-testing-sites-opened-at-hospitals-amid-fears-highly-infectious-virus-will-spread","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/177836\/","title":{"rendered":"Pilbara measles outbreak: Testing sites opened at hospitals amid fears highly infectious virus will spread"},"content":{"rendered":"

Measles<\/a> testing sites have been opened across the Pilbara<\/a> as health authorities work to identify the source of a fresh outbreak after four new cases were confirmed in the region on Monday.<\/p>\n

Almost a dozen new exposure sites across Karratha and Port Hedland<\/a> have been added to a public health alert after the cases visited several locations \u2014 including emergency departments at both Hedland and Karratha<\/a> health campuses \u2014 while infectious.<\/p>\n

Testing sites have been opened at five locations in a bid to prevent further spread, including Hedland Health<\/a> Campus, Karratha Health Campus, Roebourne Hospital, Onslow Health Service and Newman Health Service.<\/p>\n

Symptoms of measles include fever, fatigue, cough, runny nose and sore eyes. These are usually followed by a red, non-itchy rash, which starts on the face before spreading to the rest of the body.<\/p>\n

People with measles are infectious for several days before and after the onset of the rash.<\/p>\n

Communicable Disease Control Directorate\u2019s public health physician Jelena Maticevic said the new cluster shows the increased risk of further spread in the region.<\/p>\n

\u201cMeasles is highly infectious, and anyone who has not been fully vaccinated is at risk of developing the disease if they are exposed,\u201d Dr Maticevic said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyone experiencing measles symptoms should be tested immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those who visited any exposure locations at the dates and times listed below should watch for symptoms from seven to 18 days post-exposure.<\/p>\n

It brings the total number of measles cases to 43 for the year, more than seven times the 2024 caseload of six.<\/p>\n

Anyone concerned they or a family member may have measles should seek medical advice.<\/p>\n

For the latest exposure site updates visit the public health alert online<\/a>.<\/p>\n

New exposures sites: Saturday 27\/09\/2025, 10:00am to 2:00pm, Port Hedland Adventist Fellowship, 26 Roche Rd, RedbankFriday 26\/09\/2025, 5:00pm to 8:00pm, ED Karratha Health Campus, 62 Balmoral Way, KarrathaThursday 25\/09\/2025, 6:00pm to 9:30pm, ED Karratha Health Campus, 62 Balmoral Way, KarrathaThursday 25\/09\/2025, 7:00pm to 11:00pm, ED Hedland Health Campus, Colebatch Way, South HedlandTuesday 23\/09\/2025, 6:00pm to 7:15pm, Coles + Kmart South Hedland Shopping Centre, Colebatch Way & Rason Ct, South HedlandTuesday 23\/09\/2025, 9:00am to 9:45am, Subway, 14 Throssell Rd, South HedlandMonday 22\/9\/2025, 7:00 to 7:45pm, Subway, 14 Throssell Rd, South HedlandMonday 22\/9\/2025, 2:45pm to 3:15pm, Port Hedland Boulevard Shopping Centre, Port HedlandSaturday 20\/09\/2025, 6:00pm to 6:45pm, Ampol Foodary, 67-71 Hamilton Road, South HedlandSaturday 20\/09\/2025, 10:00am to 2:00pm, Karratha Adventist Fellowship, 15 Gailbraith Rd, South HedlandSaturday 20\/09\/2025, 10:00am to 1:00pm, Port Hedland Adventist Fellowship, 26 Roche Rd, Redbank<\/p>\n

healthdirect 1800 022 222<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Measles testing sites have been opened across the Pilbara as health authorities work to identify the source of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":167985,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,1836,115038,41,39,42,40,45],"class_list":["post-177836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-public-health","tag-regional-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-wa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177836\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}