Alberta surpasses 1,000 measles cases, second province to do so
Vials of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine are seen in this file photo.
Alberta is the second province in Canada to count 1,000 measles cases this year, having crossed the threshold on Friday.
With 24 new cases in as many hours, Alberta now has confirmed 1,020 cases of measles.
As of Friday, 25 were considered active, or communicable, cases. No deaths have been reported.
Ontario's total number of cases crossed 1,000 in late April and currently sits at nearly 2,180.
Together, Alberta and Ontario account for more than 90 per cent of measles cases in the country.
CTV News Edmonton has reached out to the Primary and Preventative Health Services' ministry for comment.
In an interview last week, Dr. Chris Siroka, lead medical officer of health for the Edmonton zone, applauded the cooperation by all levels of Alberta's government and health system to promote immunization, educate the public about symptoms, and provide access to testing.
'Those steps are the good steps to take around prevention and around rapid contact identification,' Siroka told CTV News Edmonton. 'Rapid case identification and contact tracing is what will help stop transmission or help reduce transmission events… and that same work is happening in Edmonton as it is happening in Calgary and every other corner of the province.'
However, one of the province's former chief medical officers of health, Dr. James Talbot, said the milestone suggests a grim outlook for the summer and fall, during which measles cases will likely rise not only in Alberta but also neighbouring provinces and territories due to summer travel.
Then, Talbot expects Canada will lose its measles elimination status in October, which it achieved in 1998.
Alberta reaching 1,000 measles cases also means that Alberta will begin to see more serious outcomes, like death, brain damage and miscarriages.
Talbot said, 'If the measures were working, we'd see the numbers going down and we wouldn't see spread to new areas. And both of those are happening.'
He expects cities and areas such as Edmonton that have so far avoided high measles cases will not fare as well in the summer.
The Edmonton zone on Friday saw its first new measles cases since early May, one day after Alberta Health Services issued a warning about two measles exposures in the capital city.
According to the government, between one and three people out of every 1,000 diagnosed with measles die. One in 1,000 diagnosed with measles will get encephalitis.
Measles is considered preventable with immunization. Two doses of a vaccine makes a person nearly fully protected. Ninety-five per cent of a population needs to be immunized for herd immunity.
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