A child under five years old has died from measles in Ontario, according to a report conducted by Public Health Ontario (PHO). While one child died from measles in Ontario, five children required hospitalization from it, according to the report. PHO said all of these children were unvaccinated. As of Wednesday, PHO confirmed 22 cases of measles have been reported in Ontario in 2024 — an increase of one new case since the previous epidemiological survey on May 9. It added all were in people born after 1970 — 13 in children and nine in adults. Twelve of the children were unimmunized and immunization status was unknown for one of them. Four of the adults were immunized with at least two doses of the measles vaccine, two were unimmunized, and immunization status was unknown for three of them. Cases occurred in nine different public health units. It said fifteen cases were associated with travel, and two resulted in five secondary cases in two clusters of close contacts. In two cases, it noted they had unknown sources of exposure. From January 1 to May 15, 967 people were tested for acute measles infection using molecular PCR tests, and 2.2% were positive. Measles is a contagious respiratory virus. Symptoms of measles include fever, a red blotchy rash, red watery eyes, and a cough. It said immunization is the best protection against measles. For children and most adults born after 1970, this means receiving two doses of measles through vaccination. In Ontario, measles has been rare, owing to its successful elimination in Canada and high immunization coverage. As a result, measles cases are often associated with travel. This report comes after Alberta Health Services (AHS) said on April 24 a person with a lab-confirmed case of measles had been in public settings in Edmonton while infectious. READ MORE: AHS warns about confirmed case of measles in EdmontonAHS said people who were in the same locations as this person during the specified dates and times could have been exposed to measles. With this measles case, AHS said the first exposure location was the international arrivals and baggage claim area at the Edmonton International Airport on April 16. It added the exposure time was 3:20 to 6 p.m. The case data for this report was based on information entered in Ontario Health’s integrated Public Health Information System (iPHIS) database as of May 15 at 8 p.m. IPHIS is a disease reporting system that allows ongoing updates to new data.
