While there are no reported cases of measles within the jurisdiction of the Haliburton Kawartha Northumberland Peterborough Health Unit (HKNP), there is a “significant” number of cases of the contagious respiratory infection in Ontario compared to recent years, says HKNP’s medical officer of health.
Dr. Thomas Piggott, who also serves as CEO of the recently merged Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit and Peterborough Public Health, spoke about the disease during his update to HKNP’s board of health at its monthly meeting on Wednesday (April 16), which was held in Lindsay and livestreamed on YouTube.
“There are still no cases confirmed locally, but there continue to be lots of additional cases provincially,” Dr. Piggott said.
“As of last week’s provincial update, we were at 816 cases in Ontario since the fall, which is significant,” Dr. Piggott said. “It’s exponential compared to recent years, and that’s really because vaccination rates have fallen.”
He added that over half of the cases are in two public health units in key communities that have low rates of vaccine uptake.
While there have been 61 hospitalizations as of last week, Dr. Piggott said there have been “no deaths so far, fortunately.”
“We did see a death a couple of years ago in Ontario from measles, so we know this is still a potentially fatal illness, and (with) 61 hospitalizations, that’s a lot of people very severely sick from measles.”
While Dr. Piggott reiterated there are no confirmed cases locally, he said the public health teams continue to conduct “preparedness work,” including supporting access to vaccines and enforcing the provincial legislation that requires school children to be vaccinated against measles and other childhood diseases.
“I just want to underscore how critically important this is,” Dr. Piggott said. “We see (vaccination) coverage rates jump up significantly when this is in place.”
While acknowledging that an increasing number of people in the past few years have been choosing to refuse vaccinations for their children, Dr. Piggott said there are other people who “have either forgotten or become complacent or haven’t been able to access vaccines.”
In response to a question about vaccination rates, deputy medical officer of health Dr. Natalie Bocking explained that the only data available is through school immunizations for two age groups, which show a greater than 95 per cent vaccination rate among 17-year-olds and a 90 per cent vaccination rate among seven-year-olds.
Herd immunity against a contagious disease is achieved when around 90 to 95 per cent of the population is immune, either through vaccination or past infection.
“The challenge is when you have pockets within the community where you have a group of families that are unimmunized,” Dr. Bocking said. “When you see measles take hold in a community, it’s when there’s a number of people that are not immune that are exposed around the same time, and then you can see outbreaks grow larger and they’ll last for a longer period of time.”
According to Public Health Ontario, back on October 18, 2024, exposure to a travel-related case of measles in New Brunswick led to measles cases in Ontario. While New Brunswick declared its outbreak over on January 7, Ontario and additional provinces have reported measles cases related to this outbreak.
As of this week’s update from Public Health Ontario, the number of reported measles cases has increased by another 109 — to 925 (773 confirmed, 152 probable) — in 15 public health units. The number of hospitalizations has increased by eight to 69, including 53 children, with 65 of the infected people unimmunized.
This is the largest outbreak in Ontario since measles was declared eradicated in Canada in 1998, with the only measles cases since then “imported” to the province as a result of travel to other countries.
According to Public Health Ontario, getting vaccinated is the best way for protection against measles. For children and most adults born after 1970, this means receiving two doses of measles-containing vaccine, such as the MMR vaccine.
“Individuals travelling outside of Canada should ensure they are adequately protected through vaccination prior to travelling,” Public Health Ontario states.
Measles is a serious respiratory infection that is highly contagious. Individuals with measles spread the virus by coughing or sneezing into the air. It can also be transmitted by touching your eyes, nose, or mouth after touching an infected surface. Symptoms of measles include fever, a red blotchy rash, red watery eyes, and cough.
Measles can have serious complications, especially for babies and young children, including ear infections, pneumonia, encephalitis (brain swelling), and even death. While most people recover, the illness can weaken the immune system and make individuals more susceptible to other infections.
