Pinoy hip-hop dancer spreads measles in Australia: Reports

MANILA, Philippines - The measles outbreak in some areas in the Philippines may have reached Australia after a Filipino hip-hop dancer competing there reportedly infected other people.

In a statement posted on the group's Facebook page, World Supremacy Battlegrounds (WSB) founder Marco Selorio said dancers from New Zealand and South Australia got the disease last December and the source was a Filipino.

"After further investigation, we have since discovered the source of the disease. An adult male dance competitor from the Philippines was infected by measles," Selorio said.

Selorio said according to the team manager, the unidentified Filipino showed flu-like symptoms on the day of the dance competition on December 8, but continued to perform after he received cold and flu tablets.

The Filipino dancer was bed-ridden for a few days after the event but did not know that he had measles until the rashes appeared.

"His rashes did not show until he returned to the Philippines on 11th December. He was soon confined to hospital and isolated for two weeks until he was healed," Selorio said.

Selorio added that they have alerted and asked the Australian and international dance teams that competed to seek medical attention if the symptoms show up.

The Sydney Morning Herald has reported that the measles outbreak that began at the international dance competition has spread across the country and overseas.

Fourteen people have since been infected and tens of thousands of people were exposed to the disease, the report added.

Among those infected was a 10-year-old girl in Adelaide who was at the dance competition. Nine more people in Turangi and Taupo in New Zealand contracted the disease. Six of them did not go to the dance competition but knew someone who had, according to the report.

The Sydney Morning Herald said dancers from Japan, the Philippines, New Zealand, Australia and three other countries competed at the WBS, which was attended by over 2,000 people at the Sydney Olympic Park Sports Centre in Homebush.

In the Philippines, the Department of Health declared a measles outbreak in several parts of Metro Manila.

The agency said from Jan. 1 to Dec. 14, 2013, there were 1,724 measles cases, including 21 deaths.

Metro Manila had the highest number of cases at 744, followed by Southern Luzon with 436 and Western Visayas with 282 cases.