The Ontario Ministry of Health has announced the first registered death of a measles patient of the current outbreak that began in October.
Dr. Kieran Moore, medical director of Health, issued a statement on Thursday saying that a baby from southwest Ontario died after being born prematurely and infected with the highly contagious virus through the mother.
Moore offered some other details.
Southwestern Public Health, which covers Oxford and Elgin counties, confirmed that the child was from a community in his coverage area.
“The baby contracted the virus before the birth of his mother, who had not received measles, papers and rubella [MMR] Vaccine, “Moore wrote.” While measles may have been a contributing factor both in birth and premature death, the baby also faced other serious medical complications not related to the virus.
“Out of respect for family privacy, no more personal or medical details will be shared.”
Death is the first in this outbreak, which in the last count, on Tuesday, included 2,009 probable and confirmed cases since it began on October 28, according to the Ministry.
It is only the second death related to the measles that the province has seen in decades, after a non -vaccinated child of Hamilton who was under five years old in May 2024.
Current outbreak brought to the wedding
Previously, Moore shared that this outbreak dates back to a Mennonite wedding in New Brunswick, and is spreading mainly in Mennonite and Amish communities where vaccination rates are delayed. The vast majority of these cases are found in southwest Ontario.
The official case count in the current outbreak is probably lower than the real number, since many cases are not reported, health officials said.
Case counts have been higher in the areas covered by the public health of the southwest, the public health of Chatham-Kent, the public health of Huron-Perth, the public health of Grand Erie and the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit.
In May alone, 79 people were diagnosed with measles for the southwest of public health, which has the highest case count in the province. Seventy -five percent of patients in that health unit were under 18.
The most at risk of measles virus are unaccinated children, health officials have warned throughout the outbreak.
“Measles presents a serious risk for unaccoured people and for babies in the early stages of life in particular,” Moore wrote in the statement on Thursday. “Anyone who is not vaccinated is at risk and urges everyone, but especially those who can get pregnant, to ensure that they have received two doses of the MMR vaccine, which will protect both a father and a baby. This vaccine has been used safely for more than 50 years and is very effective. Two doses provide a protection of almost 100 percent.”
Officials in the public health areas affected by the outbreak have told journalists who have poured resources to deliver that message to rural communities in different languages and through dissemination to the leaders of faith.
The Minister of Health calls death “terrible news”
The Minister of Health of Ontario, Sylvia Jones, whose response to the outbreak has been criticized by opposition politicians in recent weeks, said he hopes that the child’s tragic death will be a call of attention.
“I hope that today’s terrible news really forward people’s conversations with their main attention practitioners. Listen, this is real, this is shocking and, as we have seen this week, sometimes it can lead to death,” Jones told journalists.
Jones also said that the ministry is working hard to convince parents to vaccinate themselves and their children. She said that letters have been sent to schoolchildren and their parents, and there has been a collaboration of the Ministry with the health units and a “multimillion -dollar social networks.”
He also pointed out a directive that the province sent to Southwestern Public Health and other health units in autumn, asking them to begin offering vaccines against measles to children before regular age.
“You know, it is devastating when you listen to something, that we have had a measles vaccine in Canada and around the world for almost five decades, and yet we still have people who for many different reasons choose not to vaccinate.”
Moore said measles is one of the most contagious diseases. Infection complications may include pneumonia, brain swelling, premature birth and death.
Those who seek vaccination are urged to contact their local health units.
