Alberta has now confirmed more measles cases than the entire United States has reported this year.
The province has been battling outbreaks since March and as of noon Monday, total case counts in the province had ballooned to 1,314.
The latest update from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that country has amassed 1,288 cases this year.
Comments closedThe 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.
Comments closedFREDERICTON – At least three out of the four Atlantic provinces have released data revealing their measles vaccination rates in children are below the 95 per cent threshold recommended by scientists to prevent the disease from spreading.
In Nova Scotia, the provincial government told The Canadian Press that about 23 per cent of children were not fully vaccinated for measles in 2024. Brooke Armstrong, Health Department spokeswoman, said 93.4 per cent of two-year-olds had at least one dose of vaccine and 78.6 per cent of two-year-olds had both required shots.
Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick say about 10 per cent of children are not fully vaccinated for the disease. Autumn Tremere from Prince Edward Island’s Health Department said between 91 per cent and 94 per cent of children in Grade 1 had received two doses.
New Brunswick Health Department spokeswoman Tara Chislett said the 2023-24 school immunization report showed 91.2 per cent of students with proof of immunization were up to date for the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine.
Comments closedFalling childhood vaccine coverage and a large, smoldering outbreak that was kindled in an undervaccinated pocket of West Texas have driven the United States to a troubling new milestone: There have been more measles cases in the US this year than any other since the disease was declared eliminated a quarter-century ago.
There have been at least 1,277 confirmed cases of measles reported in the US in 2025, according to data from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Outbreak Response Innovation. Just halfway through the year, the case tally has already surpassed the last record from 2019, when there were a total of 1,274 cases.
Experts say this year’s cases are likely to be severely undercounted because many are going unreported. Three people have died from measles this year – two children in Texas and one adult in New Mexico, all of whom were unvaccinated – matching the total number of US measles deaths from the previous two and a half decades.
Comments closedTORONTO – A Public Health Ontario report released Thursday suggests a continuing downward trend in new measles cases.
The health agency reported 12 new cases in the province, down from 33 additions last week and 96 the week before that.
Two more people were infected with the highly contagious disease in a northern region that includes Sault Ste. Marie and surrounding areas. That region had been showing the biggest increase in cases for a few weeks.
Meanwhile, four more people were infected in southwestern Ontario — the area that was hardest hit for months.
Comments closedVANCOUVER – British Columbia Premier David Eby says the growing spread of measles across Canada is “the sadly predictable outcome” of the “recklessness” of anti-vaccination politicians.
Eby says the disease is “no joke,” given the potentially serious impact on those infected, and it’s preventable with two vaccine shots.
He told a Vancouver news conference that the focus for provincial public health authorities now is to make sure that people who are not protected receive full vaccination.
Comments closedThe B.C. Centre for Disease Control has released detailed reports of where people may have been exposed to measles in B.C.
B.C. CDC says there are 12 currently active cases of measles in B.C. and that 17 new cases were reported in Fraser Health, Interior Health and Northern Health regions since June 19. Forty-nine cases have been reported this year.
Comments closedAlberta’s measles outbreaks have now eclipsed the 1,000-case mark and infectious disease specialists are warning the virus is “impossible to contain,” given the current level of transmission.
The province reported another 24 cases on Friday, including 14 in the north zone, nine in the south and one in the Edmonton zone.
This brings the total confirmed cases since the outbreaks began in March to 1,020.
Comments closedAn infant in southwestern Ontario who contracted measles from their mother before birth and was born prematurely has died, Ontario’s chief medical officer of health says.
The child’s mother had not been vaccinated against the viral illness, Dr. Kieran Moore said in his statement.
While measles can be fatal, especially for young children, Moore noted the child also faced other “serious medical complications.”
“While measles may have been a contributing factor in both the premature birth and death, the infant also faced other serious medical complications unrelated to the virus,” Moore said.
Comments closedCanada is in the middle of the largest measles outbreak it has seen in generations, with 2,515 cases so far this year as of May 17, which is the most recent data reported by Health Canada as of Monday.
Despite the spread of the disease B.C. is not considering making measles immunization mandatory for attending school, as it is in Ontario and New Brunswick, the Health Ministry told The Tyee in an emailed statement.
“There is no requirement from the province for students to be vaccinated to attend school, or that students’ immunization records be provided as part of school registration,” the ministry said.
Instead its strategy is mostly a reactive one, where it will use data to respond to outbreaks and exposures. B.C. will also encourage people to get vaccinated and will open school-based immunization clinics in some areas with low vaccination rates.
Comments closedTORONTO – Public Health Ontario says 173 more people have been infected with measles in the province over the past week, bringing the number of cases to 1,795 since the outbreak began last October.
“That’s 173 more cases than we want to see,” said Dr. Sarah Wilson, a public health physician at the agency.
Public Health Ontario’s weekly measles report, released Thursday, said the virus continues to spread primarily among people who have not been vaccinated.
Comments closedHealth officials say measles infected 197 more people in Ontario over the last week as the highly contagious disease emerged in new parts of the country.
That brings the province’s tally of probable and confirmed cases to 1,440 since an outbreak began in October.
Public Health Ontario’s measles report says there have been 101 hospitalizations, including 75 children. Eight patients have been in intensive care.
Nova Scotia and Northwest Territories each reported measles cases earlier this week, marking their first since this outbreak began.
Alberta reported yesterday that its overall case count had reached nearly 300 since mid-March, including three patients under the age of 18 in intensive care.
Saskatchewan updated its cumulative count to 27 cases today, a day after Manitoba reported it had reached 24 cases.
Measles has mostly infected unvaccinated children, infants and teenagers, with almost 500 cases in Ontario’s southwestern public health unit.
Comments closedNova Scotia is confirming its first case of measles.
Dr. Robert Strang, the chief medical officer of health, told a news conference Tuesday that the patient is an adult in Halifax who recently travelled to the United States. They went to the emergency department at the QEII hospital in Halifax on Sunday night.
“We were well prepared for this,” Strang said. “Appropriate steps were taken very quickly when this person came in for care to minimize exposure.”
Strang said the patient had one dose of the measles vaccine when they were younger, but did not receive the second. The Health Department said in a news release that “people generally need two [doses] to be fully vaccinated” against measles.
Comments closedLetters warning of a “confirmed case of measles” were sent to parents of various Yellowknife schools on Sunday evening.
Initially, families at St Patrick High School and Weledeh Catholic School reported receiving an advisory that exposure occurred at St Pat’s – including areas shared with Weledeh – from 8am till 5:40pm on each of April 28, April 30 and May 1.
“All persons present at this venue during the time period are considered to be exposed and must follow public health guidance,” read the letter, issued by the NWT’s chief public health officer, Dr Kami Kandola.
Comments closedOttawa has its first confirmed measles cases since 2019, part of the still-growing outbreak in many parts of the province.
Ontario has now reported 1,243 measles cases across 17 public health units, including 223 new cases in the week since its last update.
That includes new cases in Algoma Public Health in the Sault Ste. Marie area and Renfrew County’s health unit northwest of Ottawa.
Comments closedA new case of travel-related measles has been confirmed in the Lower Mainland this week.
Fraser Health says a traveller from Ontario who went to Vancouver and Chilliwack on April 20 has a confirmed infection of the virus.
Comments closedTORONTO – Public Health Ontario is reporting 95 new measles cases since last week, bringing the total number of people infected past 1,000.
It says a total of 1,020 people have had measles since the province’s outbreak began last October.
The agency says the ongoing rise in cases is “due to continued exposures and transmission among individuals who have not been immunized.”
Toronto, Ontario – [April 24, 2025] – In an urgent appeal to protect the health and safety of Ontario’s students, education workers, and families, Ontario School Safety (OSS) has issued an open letter asking the Ontario Provincial Government and Public Health Ontario for an immediate vaccine-PLUS strategy, which includes the essential role of healthy indoor air, to curtail the spread of measles. This critical request comes in the wake of concerning measles infection rates – as of April 17th, 2025, Public Health Ontario is reporting 925 measles cases in the province, more than five times the number of cases than the total number of cases over the last 12 years. Encouraging a vaccine-only strategy is insufficient due to barriers to access, and because measles spreads not only through direct contact with secretions or contaminated surfaces, but through the air we breathe.
Comments closed
