Pharmacy Daily | Infectious measles

NEW research published at this week's Annual Scientific Meeting of the Australian Society for Infectious Diseases in Canberra, found that measles can spread beyond those seated immediately around an infectious person on aeroplanes. The study analysed the risk of transmission associated with measles cases who travelled on flights to or within Australia. The researchers identified 45 infectious cases who had travelled on aeroplanes, involving 49 separate flights. 20 secondary infections (people who were infected by the primary cases and became ill in the 10-14 days after the flight) occurred in people on 7 of 49 flights on which infectious cases travelled. Secondary cases occurred on 7 of 36 international flights and none of the 13 domestic flights that infectious cases had travelled on. Nine of the secondary cases were seated within 2 rows of the index case, while 11 cases were seated outside 2 rows, beyond the range of seats for which contact tracing is currently recommended. Secondary transmission was more likely to occur when primary cases were in young kids, and where there were multiple cases travelling.

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