Latest news with #measles
CTV News
40 minutes ago
- Health
- CTV News
Nearly three times more measles cases in Canada than U.S. right now, according to public health data
A sign warns about suspected cases of measles outside Woodstock General Hospital in Woodstock, Ont., on May 22, 2025. (Nicole Osborne / The Canadian Press) Canada has nearly three times more confirmed measles cases than the United States right now, according to recent public health data. Canada this year has seen a total of 3,822 measles cases, reported in 10 provinces and territories. Data by federal public health officials updated Monday shows 3,517 cases are considered confirmed and 305 are 'probable.' One death was reported in Ontario. The latest available data reflects case information collected up until July 5. The Canadian provinces with the most reported cases this year are Ontario at 2,245, Alberta at 1,231 and Manitoba at 138. Government officials didn't break down which of these cases are confirmed. The data is 'likely an underestimate' of the total in Canada, the federal government wrote on its website, noting it only represents reported cases and that there is a 'small reporting delay.' Meanwhile in the U.S., a total of 1,309 confirmed measles cases were reported in 40 states, according to the latest numbers posted on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website Tuesday. It didn't provide the number for probable cases. Three people have died this year in the U.S. due to measles, the CDC says.
Yahoo
44 minutes ago
- Health
- Yahoo
US measles cases reach 33-year high with active outbreaks in 14 states
The United States is having its worst year for measles spread in more than three decades. The national case count reached 1,288 on Wednesday, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), though public health experts say the true figure may be higher. The CDC's count is 14 infections higher than 2019, when the US almost lost its status of having eliminated the vaccine-preventable illness – something that could happen this year if the virus spreads without stopping for 12 months. But the US is still far from 1991, when there were 9,643 confirmed cases. In a short statement, the federal government said that the CDC 'continues to recommend (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccines as the best way to protect against measles'. Related Measles in Europe: Where are cases of one of the world's most contagious diseases on the rise? It also said it is 'supporting community efforts' to tamp down ongoing outbreaks as requested. Fourteen states have active outbreaks; four other states' outbreaks have ended. The largest outbreak started five months ago in undervaccinated communities in West Texas. Three people have died – two children in Texas and an adult in New Mexico – and dozens of people have been hospitalized across the US. 'What concerned me early on in this outbreak was is it spreading to other parts of the United States, and that's definitely what's happening now,' said Katherine Wells, the public health director from Lubbock County in Texas. Related Romania's measles crisis: What's driving Europe's biggest outbreak? In 2000, the World Health Organization (WHO) and CDC said measles had been eliminated from the US. But continuing vaccine hesitancy could threaten that status. 'What we're seeing with measles is a little bit of a 'canary in a coal mine,'' said Lauren Gardner, leader of Johns Hopkins University's independent measles and COVID-19 tracking databases. 'It's indicative of a problem that we know exists with vaccination attitudes in this county and just, I think, likely to get worse'.
CBC
an hour ago
- Health
- CBC
16 more measles cases confirmed in Manitoba, bringing total to 146
Social Sharing Manitoba has seen 16 more confirmed cases of measles, the province says in its latest update. According to the province's most recent data, updated Wednesday, there were 16 new confirmed cases between July 5 and 12, bringing the total number of confirmed measles infections to 146 so far this year. There have also been eight probable cases — four in April and four in June. The number of cases spiked in May, with 72 reported. A total of 28 confirmed cases were reported in June, and there have been nearly as many — 27 — reported so far this month. Canada achieved measles elimination status in 1998, but imported cases have resulted in outbreaks that started in New Brunswick in October. From Dec. 29 to July 5, there had been 3,822 reported measles cases in Canada, according to the latest data from Health Canada (3,517 confirmed and 305 probable). The highly infectious disease spreads through droplets formed in the air when someone coughs, sneezes or talks. Even a few minutes in the same space as a sick person poses infection risks, as the virus can linger on surfaces for two hours after an infected person leaves. Symptoms of measles generally appear seven to 21 days after exposure, and may include a fever, runny nose, drowsiness and red eyes, Manitoba Health says. Small white spots can also appear on the inside of the mouth or throat. Immunization is the only way to protect people from contracting measles, the province says. A two-dose measles vaccine program for measles, mumps, rubella and varicella (chickenpox) is routinely provided for kids at least one year old and again at age four to six in Manitoba. If a child is exposed to measles, the province said a second dose can be given earlier. Manitoba has expanded eligibility for vaccines to infants as young as six months old living in the Southern Health region and the Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority area. The province also extended vaccine eligibility to start at six months for children who were evacuated from their communities because of wildfires and who may be staying in southern Manitoba, where there have been measles outbreaks.
WIRED
2 hours ago
- Health
- WIRED
Can US Measles Outbreaks Be Stopped?
Jul 16, 2025 2:42 PM The US almost lost its measles elimination status once. Lessons from that episode suggest it will be more difficult to avoid doing so now. The US is experiencing its worst year for measles in over three decades, with more than 1,300 cases in 40 states as of July 16. Cases were almost as high in 2019, putting the country's measles elimination status at risk. Six years ago, health officials were able to stop the spread. But amid growing public backlash against vaccines, many of the tactics used then may not work now. Measles elimination means there has been no continuous transmission in a country for longer than 12 months. That almost happened in the 2019 outbreak, which largely affected Orthodox Jewish populations in New York City and some surrounding counties. In fall 2018, US travelers returning from Israel tested positive for measles. The disease quickly spread throughout close-knit communities, especially among children, due to low vaccination rates. While the statewide measles vaccination rate for school-age children was 98 percent the previous school year, vaccination coverage in schools in the outbreak area was only 77 percent. Because measles is highly contagious, a 95 percent vaccination rate is needed to protect a community from the disease. As a result, the majority of measles cases occurred in individuals 18 and under, nearly 86 percent of whom were known to be unvaccinated. Some of those people developed severe complications, including pneumonia, and nearly 8 percent were hospitalized. The current surge is being fueled by an outbreak that started in an undervaccinated Mennonite community in West Texas. Cases have since spread to other Texas counties, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. Two children in Texas with no underlying conditions and one adult in New Mexico have died this year as a result of measles. All were unvaccinated. 'There are definitely parallels. What we saw in New York was very much the result of years and years of spread of misinformation and disinformation around the safety of vaccines,' says Neil Vora, executive director of Preventing Pandemics at the Source Coalition and previously a medical epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who helped respond to the 2019 outbreak. Cases eventually burned out in New York after a months-long effort that included both traditional public health approaches and policy changes at the local and state level. 'You need to take the first case seriously, because it's like kindling. You never know when that fire is just going to break out,' says Oxiris Barbot, the current president and CEO of the United Hospital Fund, who served as New York City's health commissioner from 2018 to 2020. As the disease spread, Barbot realized the city health department would need to go to the source of transmission, largely the Orthodox Jewish schools in affected neighborhoods. Working with school administrators, they reviewed vaccination records to identify unvaccinated or under-vaccinated children. Following an exposure, those children were prohibited from attending school and childcare for 21 days, the incubation period for measles. Similar measures were taken in some counties outside the city. 'It took a lot of staff time, a lot of leg work,' Barbot says. In one school, a contagious child led to more than 25 infections in other students and further spread outside the school. She says the health department was 'heavily involved' in making sure schools were abiding by the quarantine measures.' Health officials also worked to combat misinformation. A Jewish anti-vaccine group called Parents Teaching and Advocating for Children's Health, or PEACH, distributed a 40-page anti-vaccination booklet titled 'The Vaccine Safety Handbook' that contained conspiracy theories and inaccurate information, including the debunked claim that vaccines cause autism. In response, the city health department mailed booklets that provided accurate and religiously relevant information about vaccines to thousands of households in affected neighborhoods and launched a campaign to combat vaccine myths. 'We were consistently delivering the same message that was backed by science and that gave our community partners the legitimacy with which to engage their family, their friends, and their neighbors in countering the myths and disinformation that was being shared,' Barbot says. When those efforts weren't enough on their own, New York City used its public health authority to increase vaccination rates. In April 2019, about six months after the first cases appeared, Mayor Bill de Blasio declared a state of emergency, requiring individuals living, working, or going to school in affected zip codes to be vaccinated against measles. Those who didn't comply could be fined. In Rockland County, unvaccinated people under the age of 18 were banned from public places for 30 days. That summer, the New York legislature also changed statewide vaccination requirements to remove religious exemptions, which were previously allowed. The change applied to public, private, and religious schools. As a result of the efforts in New York, tens of thousands of vaccine doses were administered. In one affected Brooklyn neighborhood, the percentage of children who received at least one dose of MMR vaccine increased from less than 80 percent to 91 percent between October 2018 and September 2019. A modeling study by a researcher at Columbia University found that without these measures, numbers of infections and hospitalizations could have been 10 times higher. Those efforts won't necessarily map neatly onto the current measles outbreak. Vaccine requirements would likely face pushback in conservative states like Texas, especially since mistrust around vaccines has risen since the Covid-19 pandemic. (In fact, in May, Texas lawmakers passed a bill to make it easier for parents to seek vaccine exemptions for their children. That law goes into effect September 1.) 'Different approaches are going to have to be tailored for the unique needs of those specific areas. It's not a one-size-fits all approach,' Vora says. In Texas, the Department of State Health Services carried out a comprehensive paid media campaign that included online, broadcast, billboard, and on-site ads in businesses in two phases from March to June to encourage measles vaccination. The department was especially focused on areas where measles was spreading and areas at greater risk of an outbreak. This was in addition to the department's usual vaccination campaigns, a spokesperson tells WIRED via email. Zach Holbrooks, executive director for the South Plains Public Health District in Texas, which covers Gaines, Yoakum, Terry and Dawson counties, says his department had mobile vaccine and testing clinics operating in all four counties from February until May, when cases started to decline. Gaines County, which has reported more than half of the cases in Texas, is no longer an active outbreak county as of July 8. 'Anytime we saw cases popping up where they hadn't been before, we would get with our state partners and deploy resources to those areas,' Holbrooks says. 'All we can do is supply opportunities for people to get screened or vaccinated. It's really up to them to take advantage of those services.' In Gaines County, 313 people were vaccinated as part of those efforts, although Holbrooks says he was hoping to see more. His district tried to get the word out about vaccination with a mobile billboard truck that drove around the region. They also worked with the state and CDC to translate vaccine communication into German to target the Mennonite community. 'The messaging was out there,' Holbrooks says. But he thinks lingering mistrust from the Covid-19 pandemic has led to more people rejecting vaccines and public health guidance. 'Sometimes attitudes and feelings about vaccines are pretty hardwired in people, and it's hard to overcome the negative beliefs that they have.' It's also been challenging to get people to comply with the 21-day quarantine rule. He received reports of kids with measles being out in public with their parents. 'A lot of people didn't take it seriously,' he says of the quarantine period. Another hurdle is that many people are traveling for summer vacations, which can easily spread disease and make it harder to trace the chains of transmission. There are signs, however, that disease spread may be slowing down. The number of new measles cases has been declining in recent weeks, according to the CDC. Still, with pockets of low vaccination across the country, transmission could continue throughout the rest of the year, and future outbreaks are likely. Building back trust in vaccines and public health will take time. Barbot says consistent messaging at the federal, state, and local levels is one step in that direction. While current US Health and Human Services secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has tepidly endorsed the measles vaccine, he has also made the false claim that protection from the vaccine wanes quickly and has promoted vitamin A as a treatment for measles. While vitamin A is often given to children with nutritional deficiencies who get measles, it doesn't kill the virus. 'It's not too late,' Barbot says. 'With an all-out effort we can avoid losing that [elimination] status.'
CBC
3 hours ago
- Health
- CBC
CBC Calgary Headline News July 16: Testing wastewater for measles & Alberta's rat control program
CBC Calgary Headline News July 16: Testing wastewater for measles & Alberta's rat control program 7 minutes ago Duration 0:57
