An outbreak of one of the world’s most contagious diseases, measles, has popped up in regional Western with a Qantas flight attendant now infected.
A worker believed to be ‘patient zero’ from the BHP mine in Newman, a remote mining town in the state’s Pilbara region, came down with the illness after flying on Qantas Flight QF1708 from Perth on July 2.
BHP confirmed a second worker, who remains at the job site, caught the disease and several others are now isolating with symptoms.
‘Our health and safety team has implemented precautionary measures for the wellbeing of our workforce and the community,’ a BHP spokesman said.
Authorities are working to identify the original case of measles.
That person had flown on QF1705 from Newman to Perth on June 23 before heading back to Newman on flight QF1708 on July 2.
A Qantas spokesperson confirmed a member of the flight crew had also contracted measles following a flight from Perth to Port Hedland and back on July 3.
‘We advised WA health of our team member’s positive diagnosis and conducted contact tracing internally to identify other staff who may have been in contact with the impacted crew member,’ he said.
The Qantas worker is quarantining and no further symptoms were detected.
The WA Department of Health urged anyone who ‘visited an exposure location’ during a string of specific dates to monitor their symptoms.
Signs of measles typically take seven to 18 days to develop while those born before 1966 and those with two vaccinations are generally considered immune.
Symptoms include a fever, cough, runny nose and conjunctivitis.
A rash typically appears about three to five days after symptoms first show up.
In severe cases, measles can lead to ear infections, pneumonia, inflammation of the brain and can even be fatal.
There is no specific cure and people are urged to get vaccinated.