PUBLIC HEALTH
INFORMATION
Issued by the Communicable Disease Control
Branch of the Department of Health
Date 01/04/99
This notice is for the attention of all doctors
Measles update
There is one confirmed case of measles in a man aged
30 years in South Australia.
The Department of
Health will provide free measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine
for young adults (aged 18–30 years) and who:
- are students, including those enrolled at TAFE and university
- are holders of health care cards
- have been contacts of a confirmed case of measles.
Any person aged less than 30 years should complete the 2 dose course. If 2 doses are
required, the 2nd dose is given one month after the first. If people have
already had one dose at any time, they need only to have one booster dose.
Distribution of the MMR vaccine will continue through the normal system via the Vaccine
Distribution Centre on allocated delivery dates for each area. If a case of measles is
confirmed, the CDC Branch will initiate immediate access of MMR vaccine for contacts of
the case to general practitioners through a courier system.
Please notify all suspected cases by phone immediately at any time, 7 days a week, to
the Communicable Disease Control Branch (Telephone: 8226-7177) so that contacts can be
identified and immunised.
Doctors are asked to:
- Notify on suspicion
- Arrange for urgent confirmatory diagnostic IgM testing on all cases of suspected measles
(clotted serum tube).
- In addition, for virus isolation, please collect urine in an ordinary yellow top
container, unclotted blood in an anticoagulated (full blood count) tube and a throat swab
in viral transport medium. Store all at 4oC.
Please refer to The Australian Immunisation Handbook, 6th edition,
Measles, Mumps and Rubella, page 82, for more information.
Contact name: Dr Rod Givney
Contact telephone: (08) 8226-7177 |
