NSW Health cautions public to be on alert for measles symptoms after at least four people infected

NSW Health has advised the public to be on alert to the symptoms of measles, after reports of people were diagnosed with the highly contagious disease in Queensland and New South Wales.

Two of the infected patients are travellers who spent time in hostels in Cairns and Magnetic Island, in Far North Queensland, in late March, before separately travelling to Sydney.

Two young children, believed to have acquired the disease in India, arrived home in Sydney on March 30.

The children visited a medical centre in Blacktown and Mt Druitt Hospital on April 2.

Symptoms of the infectious disease include fever, sore eyes and a cough followed three or four days later by a red rash, typically spreading from the head and neck to the rest of the body.

The disease can carry serious complications, in particular for young children who are infected.

For more information on measles, visit: http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/Infectious/factsheets/Pages/Measles_Factsheet.aspx