A man, two women in their 20s and a woman in her 40s have reportedly contracted the highly contagious viral illness last week as reported by The Age.
Other than living in the same area (Brunswick and Brunswick East), there is no direct connection between the four people, and none have recently travelled overseas.
Measles can cause serious illness like pneumonia, particularly in very young children and adults. An alert has been issued by the health department for doctors to look out for further infections.
Late last year, a Brunswick school was at the centre of a chickenpox outbreak, with one in four students at Brunswick North West Primary School contracting chickenpox within a fortnight.
Meanwhile, only 73.2 per cent of children at the school were fully immunised at the time.
However, under the new No Jab, No Play laws which came into effect on January 1 this year, all Victorian children must be fully vaccinated to attend childcare and kindergarten.
The measles vaccine, which is administered as the Measles, Mumps and Rubella vaccine, is part of the National Immunisation Program for children between 12 months and four years of age.
Women aged 20 to 40 can also receive the MMR vaccine free of charge under the Victorian government’s initiative to ensure women of child-bearing age are protected against rubella.
Meanwhile, people under 20 can also receive the MMR vaccine free of charge under the federal government’s catch-up campaign.
The groups of people most at risk of catching measles are:
-Anyone who is unvaccinated; especially adults between 35 and 49 years, because many in this age group did not receive measles vaccine;
-People at any age who are immunocompromised, even if they have had measles, or have been immunised. This includes people with diseases such as cancer, and people who are undergoing cancer treatment or are on high-dose steroids.