West Australian parents are being urged to vaccinate their children by the state's health department after a child was hospitalised with measles amid a spike in cases.
There have been four cases that started with an unvaccinated year 10 student from a Perth alternative Steiner school who returned from Italy with measles.
All of the new cases appeared in unvaccinated children who could have had life-long immunity from the potentially deadly virus, WA Health's medical co-ordinator of its prevention and control program Professor Paul Effler said.
“In recent weeks, there have been three secondary cases of measles which have all stemmed from one unvaccinated student,” Professor Effler said.
“The latest case was particularly concerning because it resulted in a child being hospitalised for three days.”
Measles is considered a highly contagious viral illness that can be transmitted from person to person by tiny droplets from a cough or a sneeze.
Usually a person infected with measles is contagious for four days before and after a rash becomes visible.
Both children and adults alike are in danger of contracting measles if they do not have immunity to the disease.
Those who are immune to measles have been given two doses of a measles vaccine or were born before 1966.
Symptoms include a fever with other indicators such as a cough, runny nose, sore red eyes and a rash seen within two to three weeks of a possible exposure to a person who had measles.
