Share and Follow
Health professionals are increasingly alarmed by a surge in measles cases across Australia, with 22 instances already documented this year, reflecting a wider global uptick in the viral infection.
Data from the Australian Centre for Disease Control (ACDC) as of February 6 reveals that Queensland leads with eight cases, followed by New South Wales with seven, Victoria with five, and Western and South Australia each reporting one case.
In Victoria, health officials have pointed out that the recent jump in measles cases is associated with international travel. They have cautioned travelers that outbreaks of the highly infectious disease have been detected in popular Australian travel destinations, such as Indonesia, Thailand, and India.
Indonesia, crowned as Australia’s top international travel spot in 2023, reported the highest measles cases from June to November 2025, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Experts consulted by SBS News attribute the rise in measles cases in Australia to the resurgence in international travel following the relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions.
They also cited vaccine scepticism and an underestimation of how serious and contagious measles can be as factors.
Measles can spread through air conditioning
Infectious disease physician and clinical microbiologist Paul Griffin said some Australians underestimate the danger measles can pose to health.
“About one in 1,000 to one in 10,000 cases will lead to severe complications. And that could be a nasty pneumonia, for example, or could be brain inflammation and swelling that can lead to death or permanent disability,” he said.
He also highlighted the extreme contagiousness of the disease.
“It’s so infectious that you can be in an exposure site after someone with measles was there, even up to a few hours afterwards, and still get infected.
“It’s one of these infections that can travel through air conditioning circuits, and we can see people be infected in other rooms if they’re on the same circuit … So it’s spread very easily via the airborne route.”
Chair of child and young person’s health at the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners Dr Tim Jones agreed, telling SBS News: “It spreads like wildfire. It’s orders of magnitude more contagious than COVID was.”
Up to nine out of 10 people who don’t have immunity will become infected after exposure to an infected person, according to the ACDC.
Vaccine hesitancy and misinformation
The ACDC also advises that two measles vaccinations are 99 per cent effective at preventing measles infection.
However, Australian vaccination rates, particularly among children, have decreased in recent years.
According to recent Department of Health data, around 93 per cent of five-year-olds have had all vaccines recommended for their age, while around 89.5 per cent of two-year-olds are fully vaccinated.
The department warned that, over the last three years, the nation’s vaccination rate has dropped below its aspirational target of 95 per cent, which it says is needed to reach the “herd immunity” required to stop the spread of vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles.
Both experts interviewed by SBS News pointed to vaccine hesitation as driving the increased spread of measles, with Griffin saying it was “getting harder to convince people to make the right decision and get the vaccine”.
Jones said years of COVID-19 restrictions and mandates had induced a hesitation about vaccination in some Australians.
“Families are just burnt out after COVID. They were tired of the constantly changing advice that was given on vaccination. So they’re sceptical about whether the [measles] vaccination truly is as important as we say it is.”
Jones said that, in his experience as a doctor, sitting down with families and discussing the risks associated with the disease changed most people’s minds.
“What I find I need to do as a clinician for those families is to put what was happening in COVID in context — that things were changing very, very quickly — versus something like measles, where it’s a disease that’s been around for a very long time.”
“We know it very well, and the vaccinations that we’ve been using have also been around for a long time, and we know what they are,” he said.
Major outbreak to elimination to a tripling of cases
In 1994, Australia faced a major measles outbreak with 4,794 confirmed cases. It was that year that the two-dose vaccination schedule was introduced for children aged between 10 and 16 years old.
At first, vaccination rates were low, but by 2000 they were sufficient to reduce the circulation of the virus, according to the Communicable Diseases Network Australia.
The two-dose vaccine offers 99 per cent protection against illness and serious complications, according to the ACDC
Measles often comes with flu-like symptoms — such as a fever and runny nose — but it’s important to also look out for a rash, cough and conjunctivitis, which are tell-tale signs of measles.
Since 1994, most Australians have received their vaccination as part of the National Immunisation Program.
In 2014, measles was declared eliminated in Australia by WHO due to the endemic measle strain not circulating for several years — thanks to the effectiveness of the vaccine.
However, cases continue to occur in Australia, mostly in those who have travelled overseas.
“What we need to recognise is that what’s kept those numbers down is consistently keeping the measles vaccination rate in Australia over 95 per cent of our population. And that’s a number that’s been steadily slipping over the last few years,” Jones said.
“We’ve seen a tripling of measles cases in Australia over the last year … I do think there needs to be some, at least a mild degree of, concern about what’s going on.”
For the latest from SBS News, download our app and subscribe to our newsletter.