The largest outbreak of measles in B.C. might be cresting, but there are still pockets of people without immunity spread across the province, which could lead to future outbreaks, say public health officials.
Most of the province’s confirmed 102 cases are in the northeast, where the disease has been spreading for the last couple weeks, said Dr. Martin Lavoie, deputy provincial health officer, at a press conference earlier today.
“This is not a pandemic, but measles is very serious,” Lavoie said.
He added that while there’s 102 confirmed cases there’s likely more as some people are resting and recovering at home, and have not been directly counted by health officials.
Dr. Jong Kim, chief medical officer for Northern Health, said B.C. has “likely seen the height of the wave” of the outbreak in the northeast, but that further cases are still possible, especially if the virus finds another pocket of the population where people have not received the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine.