Manitoba infant recovering from measles, say health officials

An 11-month-old girl from Winnipeg has Manitoba's latest confirmed case of measles, and health officials suspect she contracted the virus outside Canada.

Dr. Michael Routledge, the province's chief public health officer, says the girl's family had returned from a trip to India a week and a half before she showed symptoms on around Feb. 4.

"We do believe this was a travel-related case and not a case where they were exposed to the measles virus while in Manitoba, but we're still doing some of the investigation to understand where they were and when," Routledge said Tuesday.

The infant is currently recovering at home, according to the province.

Routledge said officials are trying to figure out where the girl may have visited and how many people may have come into contact with her.

"The history we've heard so far is that because this was a young child, they're limited in the number of places that they've been," he said.

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If necessary, people will be offered immunization and asked to restrict their contact with others to help reduce the spread of measles, according to officials.

The latest measles case is the first in Manitoba so far this year.

Last year, Manitoba saw its worst outbreak of measles in decades with nine cases confirmed — four in March, four in April and one in August. All of them were quickly contained.

"In Manitoba we've had very low instance of measles. We did have a little bit of a cluster last year, but that did go away," Routledge said.

"This is a single case so far and I'm hopeful that this won't turn into any more cases. So the risk for Manitobans of being exposed to measles is extremely low."

Measles can cause a rash, runny nose and cough, as well as more serious complications such as deafness and brain damage.

Was too young for measles vaccine

Because the girl is 11 months old, she would have been too young for the measles vaccine, Routledge said.

In Manitoba, the MMRV (measles, mumps, rubella and varicella) vaccine is provided to children who are at least one year of age. The vaccine is provided again when the children are between four and six years old.

Across Manitoba, just under 80 per cent of kids receive some sort of shot or booster for MMRV. But on the whole, vaccination rates for measles, mumps and rubella are slightly down. In 2012, 86.5 per cent of kids received the vaccine; in 2013, that number dropped to 81.2 per cent. 

In that time, fears over a connection between vaccination and things like autism have been raised across North America — fears that have been debunked by the scientific community.

Routledge said vaccinations, including measles vaccines, are extremely effective and are reliable and safe. 

He said there are no plans to make vaccinations mandatory in Manitoba because the province has already seen very good immunization rates.