January 22, 2019

NSWHealth has issued a warning after the two infected children landed at Sydney Airport last week before taking a crowded train home.

Two children with measles who flew in to Sydney from Sri Lanka prompting a health warning over the highly contagious virus were unvaccinated by choice, it has been revealed.

Last week, NSW Health issued a warning to people who were on flight SQ221 from Singapore which arrived in Sydney on January 11.

Two children on the Singapore Airlines flight were diagnosed with measles, and it has since been revealed the parents refused to vaccinate them.

For more stories like this, visit news.com.au

It is understood the children were unvaccinated by choice. Picture: iStock

Parents urged to be on the lookout for symptoms

The children caught the train on January 11 from the International Airport to Meadowbank via Central.

NSW Health were notified of the cases on Friday, and advised people who may have come into contact with the children to be alert for symptoms until late January.

“If you develop symptoms please call ahead to your GP so that you do not wait in the waiting room with other patients,” communicable diseases director Dr Vicky Sheppeard said in a statement.

The warning came a day after another airport measles scare involving a man who flew into Sydney from Manila on January 11.

Vaccination rates for five-year-olds have increased from 88 per cent to 94.6 per cent between 2010 and 2018. (The national target is 95 per cent.)

Symptoms of measles include fever, sore eyes and a cough, followed three or four days later by a red, blotchy rash, NSW Health says.

According to the World Health Organisation, measles killed 110,000 people around the world in 2017, with most of those deaths being children under five.