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<\/a><\/p>\nCases jumped to 133 this year, prompting calls for urgent vaccination and awareness.<\/p>\n
Rising measles cases in Australia have prompted a national health alert from the Australian Centre for Disease Control.<\/p>\n
The ACDC this week revealed there had been 133 reported cases of measles across the country so far this year \u2013 the highest number for this time of the year since 2019.<\/p>\n
Half of these cases have been in people aged 20 to 34 years. The ACDC highlighted NSW, Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia as jurisdictions of particular concern.<\/p>\n
Western Australia has had the highest number of cases (48 as of 14 October) according to the National Notifiable Disease Surveillance System, followed by Victoria (34 cases), NSW (28 cases) and Queensland (22 cases).<\/p>\n
There were 57 cases of measles reported across Australia in 2024; 26 in 2023; and seven in 2022.<\/p>\n
In a statement, the ACDC said most of the cases so far had been in people who had travelled overseas.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are measles outbreaks in many countries globally, including in countries Australians frequently travel to for holidays, to visit friends and relatives and for work,\u201d it said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Australian infectious diseases expert Associate Professor Paul Griffin said Australia was in a \u201cvery precarious position\u201d when it came to measles control.<\/p>\n
\u201cCertainly, if this continues and we don\u2019t do more to address it, we could really go past a tipping point where we see more and more, a little bit like the US experience,\u201d he told The Medical Republic.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce you get to that point, the unfortunate reality is, you\u2019ll start to see the serious complications; potentially even deaths. And we want to make sure that doesn\u2019t happen in our country.\u201d<\/p>\n
Professor Griffin, director of Infectious Diseases at Mater Health Services in Brisbane and Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Queensland Medical School, welcomed the ACDC alert.<\/p>\n
But he said more needed to be done from a public health perspective to raise awareness, improve vaccination rates and ensure appropriate testing was done to allow appropriate contact tracing and infection control measures.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis requires a comprehensive solution, including alerting travellers beforehand, getting people boosted, if possible, and then making sure that people understand these risks and do all the right things if they\u2019re potentially infected, including getting tested early upon their return,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is exactly where a CDC could really make a big impact if it was doing things really well. It\u2019s great that that alert has come out, but I hope it\u2019s being backed up with comprehensive solutions to try and address this issue.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s definitely significant [the high numbers], and if we don\u2019t do more, it\u2019s only going to get worse.\u201d<\/p>\n
Professor Griffin said one of the most important messages around measles \u2013 apart from the need for vaccination and reporting \u2013 was its level of infectiousness.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s literally the most infectious thing that we will see,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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