As measles concerns grow, and cases of cases mark, health workers are preparing for an increase and pleading with the inhabitants of shelters that make sure they are completely vaccinated.
Alberta Health said there were 11 cases confirmed in the province until Monday afternoon, including one in the Calgary area, two in the Edmonton area and eight in the northern part.
Currently, a person is hospitalized with the highly contagious virus.
The youngest alberta confirmed with measles at this time is a baby under one year of age, and the largest is an adult between the ages of 35 and 54.
According to Alberta Health, the breakdown of age is as follows:
- Under one: 1 case
- Ages 1-4: 3 cases
- 5 -9: 4 cases
- Ages 10-14: 2 cases
- Age 35-54: 1 case
“I think we are at the tip of the iceberg,” said Dr. Sidd Thakore, a pediatrician from the Alberta Children’s Hospital, who expects Alberta to see more cases in the next two weeks.
“It is the perfect storm of a very contagious virus, which can last in the air or on the surfaces, and with people who are not so vaccinated [as] before. I think we are going to see that the pockets increase by one or two weeks. “
In addition to being in the air, Thakore said the virus can also be difficult to contain because people can be contagious for up to four days before the eruption appears.
He said that Alberta Children’s Hospital staff is preparing for more cases of a preventable vaccine disease with which some of them had never had to deal with.
“In the early 2000s you never heard about it. You never saw it,” he said. “Now we are seeing it and we will have to deal with that. So my whole group in the hospital, we only make sure we are up to date about what we have to do.”
Seeing the case of Alberta cases is frustrating for doctors, including Dr. Isabelle Chascapados.
“This is 100 percent preventable,” said Chapados, a clinical assistant professor of pediatrics at Alberta University.
“It was written in the sky as vaccination rates went down.”
The Alberta Routine Child Immunization Program recommends that children obtain two doses of the measles vaccine, the first at 12 months and the second at 18 months of age.
However, vaccination rates have decreased.
Provincial data show that 69.3 percent of Alberta children were completely vaccinated with two doses at the age of two years in 2023, with some parts of the province that submerge well below 50 percent.
The objective is 95 percent.
Thakore urges people to make sure they and their children are completely vaccinated. People who are not safe should talk to their medical care provider, he said.
“It would be very unfortunate if they don’t vaccinate you due to false information,” he said.
“The measles vaccine is a safe vaccine. And it works.”
According to the Canada Public Health Agency, the Single MMR (measles, paper, rubella) vaccine was introduced into the provinces between 1974 and 1983. The MMR vaccine of two doses of routine was taken nationwide between 1996 and 1997.
The country saw a dramatic decrease in measles cases after the vaccine was introduced, and in 1998 the virus was considered “eliminated” in Canada because the endemic transmission was no longer being carried out.
Daily updates
Alberta Minister of Health, Adriana Lagrange, said the province is working to obtain information from Albertanes.
“We have seen vaccines not only in Alberta, but in Canada and around the world. So we are giving the information as much as possible,” he said Monday.
Alberta Health plans to start publishing a daily update on Measles cases account Tuesday. The numbers are expected to be updated at 12:30 pm from Monday to Friday.
When asked if she supports or not two doses of the measles vaccine, Lagrange said yes.
“We continue working with young families and make sure they have the information they need to make good decisions for them and their families,” said Lagrange.
Measles can be dangerous, which leads to complications, including brain swelling, pneumonia and even death, says Alberta Health.
“That scares. So that is the risk we have to deal with and we could be facing … during these next two weeks,” Thakore said.
Between one and three out of every 1,000 people who will contract the virus, said the province. And more than 90 percent of people who are not immune to measles and who come into contact with the virus will infect.
Babies are among the most at risk, said plas, because they are not protected until they get their second dose at 18 months.
“The only protection we have is collectively to make our vaccines. Otherwise, those babies are sitting ducks,” he said.
Adults born before 1970 are probably immune because measles circulates widely at that time, according to the province. People born in 1970 are susceptible if they don’t have two doses, said AHS.
Meanwhile, the province said it is aware of several separate and unrelated ways that measles was introduced in Alberta, noting that it was brought through an ontarium connection and through “at least two international sites.”
The Alberta government measles website provides more information about how the virus, its symptoms, immunization and what to do if you think it can be infected.
