Three people have been diagnosed with the measles in less than a week.
While staff at NSW Health are still confirming details for the press, a child visited Royal North Shore Hospital recently, making them the third to be diagnosed with the infection in under a week.
Before you consider packing up and moving states, hear this: The aforementioned follows a visitor from the ACT to NSW who was infectious while holidaying on the Central Coast and Sydney’s northern suburbs between December 26 and 30.
Crucially, due to the fact measles can spread through coughing or sneezing, the person visited Thornleigh McDonald’s, Jasmine Cafe at Umina Beach, Deepwater Plaza in Woy Woy and Umina Beach Shopping Centre.
Additionally, a young adult was confirmed to have the measles on December 29 after returning to Sydney from Thailand.
Communicable diseases director Vicky Sheppeard offered some sage advice, saying anyone in those locations during the same time frame should watch for symptoms.
“The time from exposure to the disease to the onset of symptoms is typically about 10 days but can be as long as 18 days so people should be alert to symptoms until mid-January,” Dr Sheppeard said.
Measles symptoms include:
- Pain areas in the muscles
- Fever, malaise, fatigue, or loss of appetite
- Runny nose or sneezing
- Skin rash
- Dry cough
- Pink eye
- Diarrhoea
- Headache
- Koplik’s spots
- Sensitivity to light
- Sore throat
- Swollen lymph nodes
The measles no longer discriminates to those going through their most awkward years (read: middle school). Dr Sheppeard said people aged 20-40 are at risk.
“People in the 20-40 year age bracket may have missed out on the full vaccination program for measles and mistakenly believe they are protected against the disease.”
Measles symptoms don’t appear until 10 to 14 days after exposure. So if any of the aforementioned applies to you, don’t be a hero, consult a doctor.
