A 20-case day follows an 18-case day, and totals have now topped 1,200.
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Measles hot spots all over Australia
Overnight, New South Wales announced another two cases of measles bringing its total “since Christmas” to 30 cases.[1] Today Queensland announced another two as well. But perhaps more worrying is the very sudden but much quieter measles outbreak happening in the Northern Territory (NT).[10] Measles hot spots are popping up all over Australia.
Latest Measles cases reported from New South Wales (NSW)
Photo by Joey Csunyo on Unsplash
In 2014, Australia was officially certified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as having eliminated measles.[10][2] Measles is a vaccine-preventable disease, and Australia has good vaccine uptake.
The cases Australia detects begin when an infected visitor or citizen returning from travel to countries without sufficient vaccine coverage. Sometimes, those cases pass the infection to others within Australia who are not adequately immunised. This transmission is especially obvious when it occurs in a pocket of unvaccinated people. Our high vaccine coverage means this doesn’t happen very often. But 2019 is turngin out to be a busy one.
2019 is seeing quite a few new measles cases
Measles hot spots have popped up all over Australia. Victoria is up to 9 cases for 2019 [2], South Australia has had 2 [4], Western Australia reports 15 [5], 1 has been reported from the Australian Capital Territory, Queensland has reported 9-11 [7-9] and Tasmania remains measles-free in 2019. Darwin in Australia’s Northern Territory recently reported 23 cases.[11] These aren’t all worryingly unusual numbers overall, but some are, and some are high for this early in the year.
Measles cases in Australian States and Territories.
Data from the
NATIONAL NOTIFIABLE DISEASES SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM
Is the Darwin outbreak still going?
The Northern Territory produced a series of media releases from early March, detailing a rapid rise in new Measles cases.
The first case was reported February 7th. This was a Darwin resident returning from travel to Vietnam.[12] They visited the Palmerston Regional Hospital on the 15th and 17th of February. The second case also visited that hospital. The next media update, March 19, listed eight cases – four of them having been confirmed in the preceding two days.[13] There were no direct links between the previous and new cases.
The March 26th update listed 12 cases, all from around the local area.[14] The last update, March 28, described 23 cases and noted that initial measles-mumps-rubella vaccinations would now include 9-12-month-old babies, thus dropping the age at which the first of two vaccine doses are given by three months.[10] This final update noted that most cases so far were in adults. There were “well over” 1,000 contacts of cases.
Measles in the Northern Territory has been showing a worrying rate of new cases.
But that last report was over a week ago. Given how steep the curve (above) was up until the 28th, it’s very tempting to think that there have been more cases since then. But the national figures also haven’t moved so perhaps the outbreak was very quaikcly contained.
It is important to find out what’s happening in the NT. Messaging helps remind the local population about vaccination and boosters. Communication also alerts the rest of the country to the degree of risk to expect from travelling to, and in travellers from, the Darwin area.
There are a lot of causes of fever and rash. Sometimes it’s hard to narrow down a likely culprit in the early stages of a disease. Travel and contact history help inform initial laboratory testing and management of patients. Knowing that travel from within Australia could be a factor – not just from a known overseas measles hotspot – is important information to have.
Stay tuned.
References
- Fresh alert as measles cases hit 30
https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/news/Pages/20190404_00.aspx - Elimination of endemic measles transmission in Australia
https://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/87/1/07-046375.pdf - Vaccine preventable diseases summary | Victoria State Government
https://www2.health.vic.gov.au/public-health/infectious-diseases/infectious-diseases-surveillance/search-infectious-diseases-data/vaccine-preventable-diseases-summary - Measles case in Adelaide
https://www.sahealth.sa.gov.au/wps/wcm/connect/public+content/sa+health+internet/protecting+public+health/alerts/health+alerts/measles+case+in+adelaide - Measles Notifications | Department of Health, WA Government
https://ww2.health.wa.gov.au/Articles/N_R/Notifiable-infectious-disease-report?report=measles - Health alert: Measles case notified in Canberra
https://www.health.act.gov.au/public-health-alert/health-alert-measles-case-notified-canberra - Notifiable conditions reports: Summary information | Queensland Govt, Queensland Health
https://www.health.qld.gov.au/clinical-practice/guidelines-procedures/diseases-infection/surveillance/reports/notifiable/summary - National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System (NNDSS) | Commonwealth of Australia
http://www9.health.gov.au/cda/source/rpt_4.cfm - Health authorities warn of a measles outbreak in Queensland’s north
https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/health-authorities-warn-of-a-measles-outbreak-in-queenslands-north/news-story/31cbe8e761024a00b6393d036b528e9d - Third Annual Meeting of the Regional Verification Commission for Measles Elimination in the Western Pacific | WHO WPRO
https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/208616/RS_2014_GE_04_KOR_eng.pdf - Measles Update – Vaccination program extended
https://health.nt.gov.au/news/measles-update-vaccination-program-extended - Measles alert
https://health.nt.gov.au/news/measles-alert - Further measles cases in Darwin
https://health.nt.gov.au/news/further-measles-cases-in-darwin - Update – Measles outbreak
https://health.nt.gov.au/news/update-measles-outbreak
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CDC Alert On Fake Emails Containing Computer Viruses
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| FAKE CDC EMAIL – PHISHING ATTEMPT |
#13,956
Although it hasn’t crossed my inbox yet, the CDC is warning of a new viral threat posing as an important message from the CDC on pandemic influenza.
While most people know better than to open any attachment to an email, the appropriation of a trusted identity like the CDC may cause some recipients to lower their guard momentarily.
So, just in case you haven’t already seen it, the following alert comes from the CDC.
Alert: Phishing Email Referencing CDC and Flu Pandemic
CDC security officials have been working with multiple law enforcement agencies to track a campaign of phishing emails claiming to be from the CDC that reference a flu pandemic. The body of the email instructs the user to open an attached Microsoft Office document for details on how to prevent the spread of influenza.
Please note that this email is not legitimate, and is actually from a malicious actor hoping to install malware on victim computers. If opened, the attached document will download and install ransomware called ‘Gandcrab’ on your computer, encrypting both your local files and files on any network file shares you may be connected to. An associated ransom note promises the decryption key in exchange for a Bitcoin payment, but there is no guarantee that the attackers would actually provide that key.
Below is an example of one of the emails:
Note that this is only an example; the sender may change the From: and Subject lines.
CDC encourages everyone to follow good security practices to help reduce the likelihood of falling victim to this and other phishing attacks:
- Don’t open unsolicited email from people you don’t know.
- Hover your mouse over links to see where they lead.
- Do not click links in email. If you think the address is correct, retype it in a browser window.
- Be wary of attachments in any email.
- Do not supply any personal information, especially passwords, to anyone via email.

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