Alberta doctors are expressing concern about the possibility of a measles outbreak following a public alert issued by Alberta Health Services Thursday.
AHS warned that a person with lab-confirmed measles was in public settings in Calgary while contagious between Dec. 11 and Dec. 17. The case is believed to be travel-related.
Dr. Jim Kellner is an infectious diseases specialist at Alberta Children’s Hospital. He said it won’t take long to know if an outbreak like the one recently seen in New Brunswick will occur in Alberta.
“If there is going to be a big outbreak, we’ll probably get some hint of it pretty soon because you’ll start to see other cases,” Kellner told CBC News.
He says vaccination rates need to be well above 90 per cent to prevent community transmission, but Alberta’s rates are far below that.
According to provincial government figures, in 2023, only 69 per cent of children in the province were fully vaccinated against measles by the age of two. In the Calgary zone that number was higher, at 75 per cent, but still well below the vaccination rate needed to achieve a community-based immune defence.
Dr. Joan Robinson is an Edmonton-based pediatric infectious diseases specialist.
She says measles can lead to severe complications, including inflammation of the brain.
“It’s a rare, rare side-effect, but it can happen and some of those children never do recover, meaning they end up with severe developmental problems that are lifelong,” said Robinson.
A child in Ontario died due to measles earlier this year.
Both doctors are urging parents to ensure their children are vaccinated and to watch for any concerning symptoms.
According to AHS, those symptoms include a fever of 38.3 C or higher, as well as a cough, runny nose and/or red eyes; and a red blotchy rash that appears three to seven days after the fever starts, beginning behind the ears and on the face and spreading down the body and then to the arms and legs.
“About one to three weeks after exposure is when you develop symptoms. so we’re not out of the woods any time soon because you have to wait for the cycles of incubation to take place,” Kellner said.
“I hope it doesn’t turn into anything big but we have to prepare.”