Despite a dip in active cases compared to last week, with only one reported, the B.C. Centre for Disease Control said 300 total cases of measles have been recorded in the northeastern region of the province.
These include 278 confirmed cases and 22 probable ones in the upper corner of B.C. Seventy-seven per cent of cases in the province were reported in this sparsely populated area.
The sole active carrier in the region is also alone on a provincial level. Additional inactive cases were confirmed in the northern interior of Northern Health and in Interior Health’s Okanagan area by the centre.
Most cases do not require hospitalization, however, some people are at a higher risk of complications. Children under one-year-old, immunocompromised people, and unvaccinated people who are pregnant are in this high-risk category, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada.
“While rare, severe complications can include: respiratory failure, inflammation and swelling of the brain (encephalitis), (and) death,” the agency said. Pregnant people who become infected may also “have a miscarriage, go into premature labour, (or) give birth to an infant with low body weight.”
“Measles infection can cause a complication called immune amnesia. This is the temporary loss of a person’s immunity to other germs that they were previously immune to … Immune amnesia isn’t seen in people who received the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine,” continued the federal agency.
According to a 2015 study published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, activity in the immune system can be halted for up to three years after infection.
Almost every public health agency in Canada acknowledges the MMR immunization as the easiest way to avoid getting the measles. Only five per cent of confirmed cases reported by the B.C. Centre were in people who received both doses of the vaccine, compared to the 88 per cent who had not.
