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The provincial health department chief medical officer said Friday that the measles outbreak in Ontario may continue into the summer, but the stability of new cases is a hopeful sign that it will not worsen.
Dr. Kieran Moore said in an interview that measles is so infectious that one infected person can spread it to 16 other people, but that this rate of growth has not been seen yet. He said there were more than 100 new cases and 120 new cases this week.
“Usually, in an outbreak (IT) goes in a very escalating, fast way, but we see stable numbers every week, which gives us hope,” he said.
“This virus usually spreads later in the winter and in the spring, and we found it wasn’t accelerating. So, this may be thanks to the great efforts in the community trying to limit interest rate spreads and the preparation for our message with local public health agencies to affected communities and health systems.”
Public Health in Ontario said there have been 572 cases since the outbreak began in October – 453 of which confirmed, and 119 are likely. Of the 42 people who need hospitalization, 2 need intensive care and 36 are children, most of whom are unvaccinated.
Moore wrote in a memorandum to local health care workers earlier this month that the measles outbreak “disproportionately” affects certain Mennonites, Amish and other baptism communities, due to insufficient immunity and exposure. He wrote that last fall, the origin of the outbreak was a large gathering of guests from the Mennonite community in New Brunswick.
He said Friday that the “overwhelming majority” of the cases in Ontario are people in these communities, and local public health departments are focusing on advocacy in an attempt to curb the difference. Unvaccinated babies, children and adolescents in the Southwest and Greater Yili Public Health Department were most affected.
“(Health Force) has been building strong relationships with these communities and continuing to communicate,” Moore said.
“They have advertised on some low-key German radios. They turn the files into low-German people to make sure they can understand on a community level … we call it ground games. Ground games bursts are where all work has to happen and all communication and collaboration.”
Ontario’s Liberal Party urges Moore and Prime Minister Doug Ford to publicly convey public health messages to measles.
“The Prime Minister and his chief health medical officer need to tell the people of Ontario’s plans to combat measles,” public health critic Adil Shamji wrote in a statement.
“The government of the day does not have to be told to take action. Action should be taken. Anything less will put thousands of lives in danger.”
Moore said he has no plans to hold a press conference. He said local health officials have been the public leader in the issue, and some medical experts have been conducting television interviews about measles.
“We know that Ontario’s public health partners are experts who help us with this outbreak and have good communication,” he said.
“We monitor the effectiveness of communication, our approach to how it is covered, and how the press has really raised awareness about the country and within Ontario.”
Moore said there were cases of measles beyond the health sector that was most affected, but many were linked to global travel and did not spread locally.
Measles is one of the most contagious diseases in the world. The World Health Organization says the virus can remain active in the air or infected surfaces for up to two hours.
It usually starts with fever, cough, runny nose and red eyes, followed by red spotted rashes, starting on the face and spreading to the body and limbs. The virus causes pneumonia, inflammation of the brain and death.
Ontario reported last week more cases recorded in the decade between 2013 and 2023.
– Documents with Hannah Alberga
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