Canada shouldn’t let its guard down on measles
Outbreaks are rare here, but without vaccinations disease could easily have a resurgence
The measles outbreak in Europe is troubling, but not surprising to those of us who study the disease. Measles is one of the most contagious diseases in the world, which is why we all need to be vaccinated for our communities to be protected.
Measles is highly contagious because it’s unique to humans; we are the only mammal that suffers from it. So the disease has evolved over the years to spread incredibly quickly and easily among us through the air, where it can live for up to two hours. This means you don’t have to be in direct contact with a person with measles.
You can actually get measles just from being in the same room with someone who is infected — even if they left the room up to two hours earlier.
And getting measles isn’t just a childhood rite of passage. So far this year, 37 people in European Union countries have died from it. While measles isn’t fatal in the vast majority of cases, it can cause many troubling side effects. A colleague of mine is deaf from childhood measles. One in every 600 babies who get measles develops a fatal form of encephalitis, a swelling of the brain.
I work with the World Health Organization to fight measles around the world because airborne viruses know no national borders. The work involves helping countries to eliminate measles, which means that they have no more homegrown cases.
Exciting progress is being made: four countries in Southeast Asia eliminated the disease in the past two years (Bhutan, Maldives, Democratic Republic of North Korea and Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste) and India is also making great strides.
But it’s still present in China and the Philippines, two other countries with strong connections to Canada.
In the Western hemisphere, Venezuela is experiencing a big outbreak due to its economic crisis, which has thrown a wrench into vaccination and other public health programs. The outbreak is spreading to surrounding countries, all of which had eliminated measles, illustrating not only how much countries rely on each other to maintain vigilance in the war against infectious diseases — but also how fragile the peace can be after we think the battle has been won.
In Canada, our outbreaks are thankfully only sporadic, but we do see a stray imported case take hold in areas, such as some parts of British Columbia, where vaccination levels are lower. Fortunately, Ontario has good vaccination coverage — but we need to keep it that way. Right now, Canada has no homegrown measles cases, but we depend on a high level of vaccination so the virus can’t spread when it hitches a ride on a plane.
With measles outbreaks in the news, people often ask me what they can do to protect themselves or their children. The obvious answer is to make sure your family’s vaccinations are up to date. Children aren’t routinely vaccinated until they’re 12 months old, so I recommend waiting until they can be fully protected before to travelling to a country that has measles cases.
But I know that this isn’t always possible. In that case, you might consider getting your child immunized at 6 months, the earliest age at which the immunization can be given. But you should know that the measles vaccine is not fully effective until a child has reached 12 months of age and their immune system is more developed.
There are several major reasons why vaccination rates are declining in some areas. Sometimes, it’s due to less robust public health efforts. Other times, parents hold religious views that they feel prohibit this type of intervention. Some worry about side effects. Others delay vaccinations out of fear of needles.
If you are in this last group, there are many things you can do to ease your child through the process. Proven methods of reducing the pain and anxiety of needles include breastfeeding, distracting an older child with video games, rubbing their skin, keeping them upright (not lying down) and giving them a sweet-tasting drink.
And good news: needle-free vaccines are on the horizon. These are not the old sugar cubes you might remember from childhood. One day, hopefully very soon, we’ll give vaccines by simply placing a patch on your skin.
Anyone travelling to a country with active measles should make sure they have all their vaccinations. And know the disease’s early signs: a high fever with a cough, runny nose and red eyes, followed by a rash 3-5 days later. If you or your child experiences these symptoms, please immediately call your physician’s office or Telehealth Ontario to find out how to be assessed without risking passing the infection to others.
The measles vaccine is not fully effective until a child has reached 12 months of age