February 16, 2023
Watch on for measles spread
Health authorities are concerned a measles outbreak could spread like wildfire.
A person is isolating at home in Auckland after returning from overseas not knowing they had contracted the disease and then travelling down to Tauranga and to the That Weekend Festival at Okoroire Hot Springs Hotel near Tirau on February 5.
Brian Betty, the head of the Royal College of GPs, says people who may have been exposed should check the Health Ministry website.
He says after getting on top of the 2019 outbreak, immunisation numbers fell off during the Covid pandemic, especially under Maori and Pasifika children.
“We did have a measles outbreak in South Auckland. Many children ended up in hospital and actually in Samoa 80 children died so measles is not a harmless disease. We estimate around the workd 200,000 children a year die from measles. This is a real concern, that low vacciation rate in combinatin with potentially measles being introduced into the country from overseas,” he says.
Dr Betty says the only way to protect children from the measles virus is through vaccination which should be done between 12 and 15 months.