Measles outbreak: Urgent health alerts as outbreak spreading locally in Victoria

Measles is spreading locally within Australia after two people caught the highly contagious viral infection without travelling overseas.

Two people likely acquired measles in metropolitan Melbourne as they had no history of overseas travel or known contact with other cases.

“This means there is now local transmission of measles in the community,” Victorian Chief Health Officer Tarun Weeramanthri said in a health alert.

The cases were infectious when visiting 19 locations across greater Bendigo and metropolitan Melbourne.

They include the Royal Melbourne Hospital and Bendigo Hospital emergency departments, a Keilor East swimming pool, supermarkets in Epsom and Bendigo, a beautician in Aberfeldie and Timezone at Highpoint Shopping Centre in Maribyrnong.

Those who attended a listed exposure site at specified times have been advised to monitor for symptoms.

These can include a fever, cough, sore or red eyes, runny nose, and feeling generally unwell, followed by a red bumpy rash.

Symptoms can develop up to 18 days after exposure with people warned to be vigilant as initial symptoms may be similar to COVID-19 or the flu.

People are potentially infectious from 24 hours before experiencing symptoms until four days after the rash appears.

The virus can spread through airborne droplets or contact with nose or throat secretions and contaminated surfaces and objects, lasting for up to two hours in the environment.

Eight measles cases have been identified in Victoria so far in 2025 after at least 15 were reported in the state last year.

Reported measles cases in Australia fell from just over 280 in 2019 to 38 between 2020 to 2022, including none in 2021, amid COVID-19 international travel restrictions.

As Australia reopened to the world, reported national cases rebounded to 26 in 2023 and 57 in 2024.

Anyone born during or since 1966 who doesn’t have documented evidence of receiving two doses of a measles-containing vaccine is at risk of contracting the disease.

Unvaccinated infants are at particularly high risk, and pregnant women and people with a weakened immune system are more susceptible to suffering serious complications.

All Australians are eligible to receive the free measles-mumps-rubella vaccine if born during or after 1966.

People are urged get the vaccine before travelling overseas, especially those planning to fly to South and South-East Asia countries including Vietnam.

Outbreaks of measles have been reported in Asia, Africa, Europe and the UK, the Middle East and the US.

An outbreak in West Texas has led to the first US death from the illness in a decade.

US health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, who denied he was anti-vaccination in his Senate confirmation hearings, said 124 people had contracted the disease in the outbreak and 20 of those were quarantined in hospital.

“There have been four measles outbreaks this year,” he said during a meeting of President Donald Trump’s cabinet at the White House.

“In this country last year (there were) over 16.

“So it’s not unusual. We have measles outbreaks every year.”