Health experts concerned over Measles outbreaks throughout Australia

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Health authorities are warning the community about an increasing number of measles outbreaks across Australia. Victoria's chief health officer has warned of an increased risk in greater Melbourne following a spike in cases in recent months.

Transcript

00:00Look, health authorities, a story that we've been looking at for this week is that health

00:08authorities are warning about a growing number of measles outbreaks across the country.

00:12Reporter Costa Haritos joins us now from Melbourne with the latest.

00:16Costa, what exactly should people be looking out for?

00:21Good morning Emma.

00:22Well, fever-like symptoms, conjunctivitis in the eyes and that red rash that spreads across

00:27the body, they're the telltale signs that someone may have contracted symptoms and these symptoms

00:31can last up to 18 days after that initial point of exposure.

00:36What's got health authorities and departments concerned across the country is the rapid rise

00:39in cases this year.

00:41There's been 54 across the country this year alone, that's compared to 57 that was recorded

00:46across the entirety of last year and 26 from the year before.

00:50And what they're really urging and calling on is for people to get vaccinated, particularly

00:55infants and people who aren't vaccinated already to roll up their sleeves.

00:59We have a national threshold of a 95% vaccination rate, but since COVID, that rate has dropped

01:04quite considerably.

01:0517 of those cases are in Victoria in the Greater Melbourne area and in Gippsland in regional

01:11Victoria as well.

01:12And there is community transmission as well, which has got people in the health department

01:17concerned.

01:18They say that you should be alert but not alarmed, Emma, and that all of those exposure sites

01:23are listed on the respective health websites.

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