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.
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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.