The health department in Western Australia has issued a measles warning after a Perth resident who returned from a trip to the Philippines was diagnosed with the contagious and infectious disease, a report said.

According to the online news The West Australian, the resident was a passenger of a Singapore Airlines flight on January 29, 2019.

Those who may have been exposed to the illness may be at risk if they are not immune, the report quoting the health department, added.

Passengers on the same flight and those who visited Coles at Raine Square on the morning of January 30, are urged to look out for measles symptoms until the end of the month.

Measles, "caused by a virus in the paramyxovirus family," can be passed through direct contact and through the air, and infects the respiratory tract.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said symptoms which usually appear 10-12 days after infection, include high fever, runny nose, bloodshot eyes, followed by rashes spreading from the face down to the body.

Last month, Agence France-Presse reported that a state of emergency was declared in the US state of Washington, following a measles outbreak that has affected more than two dozen people, many of them children.

The outbreak began near Portland, Oregon, at the start of the year and quickly spread to nearby Clark County and King County, both in Washington.