School holidays may mean measles being spread by travellers

AUCKLAND: The school holidays could mean fresh measles cases popping up around New Zealand as parents take children travelling, public health authorities have warned.

Between January 1 and September 26, there have been 1498 confirmed cases of measles notified across New Zealand, according to the Ministry of Health, 1246 of them in Auckland.

One in every three people with measles has been admitted to hospital — twice the usual rate.

Most cases were in South Auckland and predominantly among under5s and those aged 1329, Auckland Regional Public Health medical officer of health Dr William Rainger said at a briefing yesterday.

The highest occurrence of measles in one week was in late August with 151 new cases, compared with last week’s 133.

But because measles had a twoweek incubation period, it was ‘‘too soon to say’’ if the outbreak had peaked, he said.

‘‘We are cautiously optimistic at this stage.’’

School holidays start tomorrow so the disease will not be spreading in the classroom over the next fortnight, but Dr Rainger said parents might be travelling with their children.

‘‘There could be some transmission for people who are incubating now to other parts of the country.’’

If they spread the disease to people outside Auckland, it would be several weeks before those new cases were notified.

A parent who thought their child might be developing measles should call ahead to their doctor or healthline and get advice, and try to avoid spreading it further, he said. Parents were encouraged to get their under5s vaccinated because there was now sufficient measles vaccine to meet demand for groups the Ministry of Health had prioritised, Dr Rainger said.

However, adults over 30 have been told they will have to wait to be vaccinated due to ‘‘unprecedented demand’’.