Manitoba mulls lowering measles vaccine age as illness begins to spread through community transmission
Province has identified 20 confirmed, 4 probable cases of illness to date — mostly in Southern Health region
Manitoba is considering lowering the age children have to be to get vaccinated against measles, as more cases of the highly contagious disease are detected across the province — including some believed to have been spread through community transmission.
Dr. Davinder Singh, medical co-lead for the provincial immunization program, said those conversations are underway after Manitoba reported a total of 20 confirmed and four probable cases of the illness since February.
Currently, children a year and older are eligible for two doses of the vaccine that protects against measles, and kids six to 12 months can get one dose if they're going to a "measles endemic country," the Manitoba government's website says.
But that "could be changing in the near future" to broaden the list of who's eligible for vaccination, Singh, who's also medical officer of health with Manitoba's Southern Health-Santé Sud region, said in an interview Wednesday.
Those kinds of changes have already happened in regions like Ontario, where eligibility for first doses was expanded to babies six to 11 months old, and an accelerated schedule was implemented for second doses for kids under four earlier this year.
Singh said while Manitoba hasn't made any similar changes yet, parents of infants — or anyone who's not immunized against measles — can in the meantime reduce their risk by limiting exposure to anyone with symptoms of or a confirmed case of the illness.
While most of the cases identified to date in Manitoba have been linked to other known cases or known exposure sites, Singh said there are about three that have no known infection cause — meaning they're believed to have been transmitted somewhere out in the community.
"Until very recently, we've been able to directly trace where someone has kind of brought measles … into Manitoba, either from, you know, a trip to Ontario, or a trip to Texas, or a trip to Mexico, that type of thing, or direct secondary spread," he said.
But now that some cases are believed to have been spread through community transmission, it "raises the level of risk, because obviously it means that there would be either people who had measles that we're unaware of, or exposure areas that we were unaware of."
"It just means that we can be less confident in our ability to be able to inform people about all of the risk areas."
Almost all cases in Southern Health
Measles is one of the most highly contagious diseases. It is characterized by a red, blotchy rash that appears on the face and progresses down the body several days after initial symptoms, the Manitoba government said on its website.
It spreads through close personal contact with an infected person and through the air when an infected person coughs or sneezes, and its symptoms generally appear seven to 21 days after exposure.
The virus can be spread by droplets that can stay in the air for several hours, the province said, and infection can result in serious illness or death.
Twelve of the 20 cases Manitoba has confirmed so far this year were identified last month — in addition to the four probable cases also reported in April — while two more confirmed cases have been reported in the first few days of May.
Those cases come after one case was identified in March and five were detected in February, the provincial government said on its website, which was updated Wednesday. The data on the website is up to May 3.
While one known case of measles was reported this year in Manitoba's Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority, Singh said the rest were in his Southern Health-Santé Sud region.
The number of measles cases is rising in Manitoba, throughout Canada and across the world, and most cases are in unvaccinated or under-vaccinated kids who have been exposed to the illness in their communities, the government said.
The province continues to monitor for measles cases and exposures from those cases in Manitoba.
Singh said he hopes the heightened risk posed by increasing cases and community transmission "helps to convince" people who weren't previously aware of how quickly measles can spread and who's at risk of exposure.
"It's within people's control to do something about this, and the most effective thing by far — to get immunized," he said.
"So if for whatever reason, you know, you didn't get immunized up to now, then now is the perfect time to get your first immunization.… You can help protect yourself, your family and your community by doing so."
With files from Rosanna Hempel