![\"Health](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ef2950d0f15746cd784a2d8b7e6f28c2.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\nA measles outbreak is spreading in WA, with 47 cases now detected so far this year.<\/p>\n
WA health authorities issued a fresh warning about the potentially fatal disease on Wednesday, saying eight cases had been detected in an outbreak in the Pilbara region.<\/p>\n
Measles is highly infectious and can spread via airborne droplets, Communicable Disease Control Directorate director Dr Paul Armstrong warned.<\/p>\n
\u201cDroplets in the air may still infect people entering a room up to 30 minutes after an infected person has left it,\u201d he said in the alert notice.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf someone not already immune to measles visited an exposure location during the specified dates and times below, they are advised to monitor for symptoms between 7 to 18 days after the visit.\u201d<\/p>\n
WA Health has flagged several exposure sites across South Hedland, Karratha, Port Hedland and Redbank.<\/p>\n
Anyone who has received two measles vaccinations, or was born before 1966, is considered immune to the disease, but unvaccinated people are at risk of dangerous health complications, including death.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Health authorities recommend vaccination to protect against the potentially deadly measles disease. Picture: Supplied<\/p>\n
The disease is particularly dangerous to children, pregnant women and immunocompromised people.<\/p>\n
Symptoms include fever, tiredness, runny nose, cough, sore red eyes and a red blotchy rash that appears three-four days later.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople with measles usually feel very unwell and some may end up in hospital,\u201d Dr Armstrong said.<\/p>\n
\u201cComplications include pneumonia, and less often, encephalitis (inflammation of the brain).\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr Armstrong said there was no ongoing risk of measles at the Pilbara locations.<\/p>\n
Health experts recommend vaccination as a protection against the disease.<\/p>\n
Measles cases are exploding across the world and cases have also been detected in other Australian states.<\/p>\n
Last week, an alert was issued for Sydney\u2019s Northern Beaches after an infected person visited several locations in Dee Why and Manly.<\/p>\n
In mid September, Victoria Health warned a measles case had been detected in a traveller returning from Europe and Bali.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is an ongoing risk of measles importation in travellers returning from overseas,\u201d Victoria Health chief health officer Dr Caroline McElnay said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are several outbreaks in South-East Asia currently, including Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia, with Queensland and Western Australia recently reporting measles cases in returned travellers from Bali.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A measles outbreak is spreading in WA, with 47 cases now detected so far this year. WA health…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":210319,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[64,63,129521,42624,129520,137,129410,500,129523,129524,129522,25962],"class_list":["post-210318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-communicable-disease-control-directorate","tag-dr-armstrong","tag-dr-paul-armstrong","tag-health","tag-health-authorities","tag-healthcare","tag-measles-cases","tag-pilbara-region","tag-victoria-health","tag-wa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210318","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=210318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210318\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/210319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}