http://www.calgarysun.com/2014/04/29...tral-alberta-2
Measles outbreak declared in Calgary, Edmonton and central Alberta 35
By Michael Platt ,Calgary Sun
First posted: Tuesday, April 29, 2014 06:54 PM MDT | Updated: Tuesday, April 29, 2014 07:30 PM MDT
Dr. Judy MacDonald, medical officer of health for Calgary zone.
Article
There aren’t that many — but there should be none at all.
That worrying fact, and the serious risk that those few measles cases will soon be lots, has health officials in Calgary using a word they typically avoid.
Outbreak.
It’s the health system equivalent of sounding the alarm bell — both to warn those willing to protect their children, and hopefully keep those who refuse vaccines from making everyone else sick.
“This is not normal to have nine cases of measles within a four-month period,” said Dr. Judy MacDonald, medical officer of health for the Calgary zone.
“When we look back at our history of measles, from 2000 to 2013 in the Calgary zone we had 20 cases spread out over that period.”
So far in 2014, there have already been 22 cases of measles in Alberta, leading the province to declare an official outbreak in the Calgary, Central and Edmonton Zones of Alberta Health Services.
“It doesn’t change how we’ve been handling our response to measles cases, but what it does mean is that we have cases showing up and we can’t identify the source,” said MacDonald.
On Wednesday, the province will announce plans for special immunization clinics for babies and young children.
The outbreak means babies between six and 12 months are advised to get in line for a special early dose of vaccine, to provide short-term protection from the air-borne virus.
For kids older than four, those attending school or daycare in the outbreak zone are being told to get a second dose of the measles vaccine.
Those without two documented doses risk being banned from school, if any cases of the disease are reported among staff or students.
Finally, the AHS says anyone else born in or after 1970 should seek two documented doses of measles vaccine, to consider themselves protected.
Overkill?
You’ll get some old timers who claim measles was no big deal, because they lived through it without fancy vaccines and such.
And of course, there are parents who trust internet statisticians over actual doctors, preferring to believe in a global pharmaceutical conspiracy rather than the World Health Organization.
But the fact is, even in a developed country like Canada, the mortality rate for measles is one or two deaths for every 1,000 cases — and 140,000 children die from the disease globally each year.
Most kids don’t die — they just suffer horrible complications like brain damage and corneal scarring.
And it’s a ridiculously easy virus to catch: Just walk into a room where a measles carrier was breathing anytime in the past two hours, and an unimmunized person is over 90% likely to be infected.
For those parents who’ve refused the vaccine, measles is a time to see if trusting in Jenny McCarthy was justified.
But for those who can’t be vaccinated — including pregnant women and cancer patients — the risk is unfair, when this was a disease that had been eradicated in Canada.
That’s why the outbreak alarm is being sounded, to convince a province where the vaccination rate has now dipped to only 84% — and as low as 42% in some regions — to smarten up.
Herd immunity — meaning a population where so many people are vaccinated diseases like measles can’t gain a foothold — only works when most people still get the shot.
With those numbers falling and people more prone to travelling to parts of the world where vaccines are still seen as a medical miracle, dread diseases are coming back.
That rare word, outbreak, may not be so rare in the future.
michael.platt@sunmedia.ca
On Twitter: @SUNMichaelPlatt
For the latest information on measles and clinics in the Calgary area, go to
www.albertahealthservices.ca/measles
SOME FACTS ON ALBERTA’S MEASLES OUTBREAK
Of the 22 confirmed cases of measles so far, nine have been in Calgary, six in Edmonton and seven in central Alberta.
In Calgary, four patients had not been vaccinated despite being old enough, two had no record of vaccination, and three had some level of immunization.
Four of Calgary’s nine cases were directly related to travel to the Philippines.
On Wednesday, the province will announce plans for special immunization clinics for babies and young children.
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