By Oliver Williams
In January, a Sydney hospital emergency doctor contracted measles on the job when a patient returning from a south-east Asian country was left unscreened in the emergency waiting room for close to six hours.
The doctor never treated the patient. She was working in a separate area of the department, separated by multiple walls.
“I was never within 10 metres of them at any point,” she said. “I think obviously it wasn’t escalated quickly enough.”
By the time she developed a fever and rash 18 days later, she had already been out in the community. She tested negative on her first test and was sent home.
“At about 9pm, the infectious diseases consultant texted me and said: ‘I’m so sorry, it’s actually positive’.”
The positive result triggered a contact tracing operation. Patients she had treated during her infectious period were isolated and moved to single rooms.
After missing three night shifts, she discovered her workplace award capped sick leave at eight hours despite her working 10-hour shifts, leaving her out of pocket.
“Every day that I was on sick leave, I was losing two hours of work,” she said. “I had no choice but to take sick leave.”
Her worker’s compensation claim was initially closed without notice, and the process remains unresolved months later.
“The onus is on you to do all the work, even though you were the one who was being harmed.”
Australia had recorded 102 measles cases up to the end of May, up from 78 at the same point in 2025, according to reporting by Sally Brooks for the ABC.
NSW had recorded 48 cases, which already exceeded the state’s 2025 total.
According to the doctor, protocols for isolating patients with fever and rash after overseas travel have since been updated.
Featured image: 3D render of a measles virus cell (left) and the doctor. Photo: Rawpixel/CC, Oliver Williams
