The spread of measles both within the provinces and with each other is to maintain doctors and health officials in much of Canada Alert.
The rhythm of the outbreak is accelerating in Alberta and more than 3,400 people have been confirmed with measles there and in Ontario so far this year. Measles hangs in the air and is one of the most contagious viruses known, they say infectious disease specialists.
Joseph Blondeau, head of clinical microbiology at the Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon, says that the more widespread the measles virus in the province, the more opportunities there is for an individual who still does not know that they are infected to interact with others in social events and transmit it to others.
Measles can cause fever, cough and redness of the eyes, followed by white spots next to the molars and an eruption that usually begins around the hair line and moves through the body.
“It is not just a geographically restricted group in the province,” said Blondeau, who is also the provincial protagonist of clinical microbiology in Saskatchewan’s health authority.
While outbreaks are concentrated in Alberta and Ontario, hot spot maps reflect how precarious the situation is in several other provinces, which means that some doctors recommend vaccines to travel within the country.
“What worries me all the time is that we must be careful with new people who have a higher risk of a more serious infection because those that could end complications, whether pneumonia or brain infection.”
Two doses of the measles vaccine, papers and rubella offer 97 percent protection, said Dr. Ayisha Kurji, associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Saskatchewan. Measles is considered eliminated in Canada, but that state could be lost given the scope of propagation, largely among those that are not vaccinated.
“It is a vaccine that we know a lot.”
Immunization clinics improve access
Manitoba began to experience a significant increase in measles in spring and does not seem to be a decrease, said Dr. Davinder Singh, a medical health officer of the Health Region Sud Sud-sunté suity of the province.
In particular, said Singh, the southwest area is more affected, which corresponds to the greatest absorption of immunization for vaccines containing sarampos, he said.
There are also low immunization spotlights in Manitoba. Medical experts make home visits for those who cannot travel, offering emerging clinics when a group of families needs immunization and extending hours until night, depending on local needs, said Singh.
Babies of six months less than 12 months in some provinces where circulating measles are eligible for what is called zero dose to protect them before when children routinely receive two doses.
Manitoba residents who are being evacuated due to forest fires are also offered vaccines, said Singh.
Cases are probably not reported
Southwest Ontario has faced hundreds of measles cases since April. Now there has been a constant downward trend in recent weeks, said Dr. Rod Lim, director of Pediatric Emergency Medicine at the Children’s Hospital of London Health Sciences Center.
“We continue alert and we can provide attention to those who need it,” Lim said in an email.
For each person who has measles, Singh said, there is likely that there are several others that had it and have not been tested.
“The unconfirmed cases spend the time there,” said Dr. Gerald Evans, a professor of Medicine at Queen and a specialist in infectious diseases he practices at the Kingston Health Sciences Center.
Evans said he believes that the problem of the sub -registration is a major problem with US data, where the relationship of deaths and hospitalizations to cases appears out of synchronization with the informed number of cases. The total is 1,309 as of July 15, according to the website of the US disease control and prevention centers.
There have been three deaths confirmed by measles in the United States in 2025. In June, Ontario reported that the Death of a baby who was born prematurely and infected with the highly contagious virus while in the uterus. The child also had other serious medical complications not related to the virus, said the province’s medical director.
In the Atlantic of Canada, PEI and Newfoundland and Labrador they have no active measles cases, with one in Nueva Scotia and 15 in New Brunswick so far this year.
On the Pacific coast, BC has more than 120 cases, while Yukon has not seen any measles in 2025.
He Northwest territories I had a single measles box in spring. There have been no cases in Nunavut, according to the Canada Public Health Agency.
