Measles cases at 15-yr high
Measles is being diagnosed at the rate of one a week in WA this year, with the highest number of cases in 15 years.
The surge has prompted doctors to call for upgraded travel warnings about vaccination, especially for young adults, and renewed efforts to ensure children are fully immunised.
Thirty-nine cases have been reported so far this year, compared with 14 for all last year and six cases in 2012.
It is the highest number since 1998, when 50 cases were reported and health authorities embarked on a mass vaccination of 1.8 million Australian children, or 96 per cent of all primary school students.
The WA Health Department said more than half the cases this year had been children, most of them unvaccinated, while 44 per cent had been adults aged 20 to 40 who were unvaccinated or had only one dose as children.
Many of those infected visited countries where the highly infectious disease is still rife. In some cases, they spread the infection after returning to WA.
A department spokesman said there had been 20 separate incidents this year involving measles being brought into WA.
The biggest cluster was seven people, with one infected in the Philippines and then spreading measles to six people in WA.
"The higher number of cases this year is primarily related to a large measles epidemic in the Philippines, and also from Bali, Vietnam and other South-East Asian holiday destinations including Singapore," the spokesman said.
Australian Medical Association WA president Michael Gannon said the figures were concerning, particularly the high rate of infection in unvaccinated people.
"Measles is not a benign infection," Dr Gannon said. "It puts kids and adults into hospital and in some cases intensive care, and yet it is almost entirely preventable with vaccination.
"This is not just a health issue - it needs a whole-of-government approach, including immigration, and more resources."
The department said people born since 1996 were at risk of not being fully protected and before travelling overseas should check if they had received two doses of the vaccine.
