Parents are angry about the risk to their children in the latest measles outbreak in Western Sydney. The city is in the grips of a measles outbreak with 10 cases being confirmed in the last week.
“It infuriates me that these people have been out in society around people, babies, the elderly, maybe some with lowered immune systems,” a mother of an 8, 6 and 2-year-old from Rosehill told Kidspot. “I had the German Measles as a young child because my mother didn’t believe in vaccination at the time. I also had the whooping cough at age 4 and will never put my children through what I went through. To think others are putting my children at risk makes me angry.”
The Daily Telegraph reports that officials are struggling to contain the outbreak which is centred around Western Sydney.
Auburn and Bankstown are the most affected areas with officials now tracing the steps of the infectious people, so they can preventatively vaccinate people who may have been exposed to the highly contagious disease, the Telegraph reports.
Parents at local schools and childcare centres have had letters sent home warning them of the possibility of infection, warning them that a number of infected cases are children and infants who may spread the disease to their peers.
“There is a potential for the measles outbreak to spread further as the infected young people have large social networks both within and outside their schools and some have travelled on public transport while infected,” the letter from Western Sydney Local Health reads.
Serious and infectious
Measles is transmitted via respiratory systems, and is known to be extremely infectious.
Complications from measles can be serious. About one third of kids who get measles will have complications such as ear infections, diarrhoea or pneumonia. Serious complications may include encephalitis, Kidspot has reported previously.
Authorities aren’t certain where the current outbreak began, but it’s likely to have come from overseas where immunisation rates are lower.
Measles symptoms show 10 days after infection and may include a runny nose and other cold symptoms, conjunctivitis and then the tell-tale rash which often spreads across the chest and face.
Not just Sydney
Brisbane has also been on measles alert in the past month as an infected person was found to have attended the Diplo DJ concert on March 10.
Measles is so contagious that infections can linger in hospital waiting rooms for up to two hours after an infected patient has been there.
