Bay firefighters mostly 'out of the woods' in measles scare

There is now little chance of people picking up measles following an outbreak at an Auckland firefighter challenge last month, Bay of Plenty health authorities say.

Chief medical officer Dr Jim Miller said the incubation period for measles was over. Fifty-eight local firefighters took part at this year's Sky Tower Stair Challenge on the weekend of May 22.

Concern was initially raised when a firefighter participant was diagnosed with measles in the days following the event. The event draws thousands of firefighters throughout New Zealand to Auckland and measles is highly contagious.

Dr Miller said he was confident the Bay of Plenty firefighters who took part were "largely out of the woods" by now.

"The incubation period is generally taken to be about 14 days [after contraction]," he said.

"We followed up with the firefighters that we were aware of and we contacted them directly at the end of May. There were a few people who requested that they went into quarantine and they are all out now."

The final day of incubation for the outbreak was June 6.

Dr Miller said anyone who could have picked up measles from the event would have showed symptoms by now.

- Bay of Plenty Times