Australia is on track to record its highest number of measles cases in recent years with more cases recorded in the first three months of 2019 than total cases in some other years.
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So far this year, Australia has had 78 confirmed cases of measles reported to the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System, the federal Department of Health advised.
It comes as medical practitioners continue to call for children to be immunised against preventable diseases, such as measles, to combat the global "anti-vaxxer" movement.
Statistics from ACT Health showed the territory has had two cases reported in 2019. It has had an average of three cases per year in the last five years.
Australia recorded 81 cases in 2017 and 103 cases in 2018. In the last five years there was a low of 74 cases in 2015, which was an enormous drop from the 339 cases reported in 2014.
With the number of cases recorded so far this year Australia is on track to reach or potentially surpass the 2014 figure.
A health department spokeswoman said most cases of measles in Australia were imported, originating overseas, and only a small number of cases have no link to an imported case.
Australian Medical Association ACT board member Suzanne Davey said the ease of air travel had increased the ease with which measles can be spread.
She said the situation relied on the concept of herd immunity, which refers to resistance to the spread of a disease in any given population if a high enough proportion of people are immune.
Dr Davey said the more unimmunised people there are in a community, the easier a disease can be spread.
"This is yet another warning sign if we don't keep up herd immunity we are always going to be vulnerable to these diseases," Dr Davey said.
"In highly immunised communities these diseases die out."
She said the measles, mumps, rubella vaccine was the vaccine commonly pointed to by anti-vaxxers as linked with autism. She highlighted that this theory had repeatedly been proven false.
Dr Davey said people most often took issue with the measles vaccine as it was a live vaccine, meaning it uses a weakened form of the virus to vaccinate against it.
And while she admitted some people may experience negative side effects, these occur far less frequently and are far less serious than the actual disease.
Dr Davey said people that aren't immunised lowered the general immunity of the community and were only protected themselves by the fact such a high proportion of Australians are vaccinated.
"People who are anti-vaccines are relying on the goodness of others," Dr Davey said.
"They're going to be very vulnerable if the disease comes in [from overseas].
"We are part of a worldwide problem."
She warned against complacency or thinking that diseases like measles were wiped out as a reason not to immunise, recalling working in areas with low levels of vaccination where she saw diseases like tetanus and whooping cough kill people.
Health data shows between 1996 and 2016 there were only three reported deaths in Australia due to measles, with deaths dropping significantly after the 1975 introduction of the measles vaccine.
ACT Health public health physician Vanessa Johnston encourged encouraged all people 12 months of age or older, and born during or after 1966 to make sure they have received two doses of measles vaccine.
It is free from all ACT general practitioners and it is also safe to receive more than two doses if someone is unsure how many doses they have previously had, she said.
The Australian Immunisation Register, available through MyGov, records immunisations administered since 1996. It is also possible to verify a person's immunity to measles with a blood test.
