No new measles cases on P.E.I. since April, says chief public health officer

P.E.I. has not recorded any new cases of measles since April when Health P.E.I. confirmed two infections, the province's first reported instances of the disease since 2013.

At the time, the Chief Public Health Office said the two adults who tested positive had travelled together to an area in Canada where measles outbreaks were ongoing. Neither had been vaccinated against the virus.

Dr. Heather Morrison, the province's chief public health officer, told CBC News on Wednesday that the individuals recovered at home and are now doing well.

Public health nursing has carried out contact tracing and followups, she said, and no public exposures were identified. As part of the contact tracing process, immunizations were offered where needed.

"The measles vaccine is such an effective vaccine, and it really is such a great method of protecting against measles, so that all went well," Morrison said. "We have an adequate amount of vaccines."

Islanders can contact their local public health nursing office to learn more about getting vaccinated, Morrison said, especially with measles cases rising globally and within Canada. As of early May, she said about 1,847 cases had been reported across the country.

"Most of those cases are in Ontario and Alberta, but it's been a reminder that it was an illness that we didn't see for a long time, and we need to pay attention to it."

Highly contagious virus

Symptoms of measles include fever, cough, sore eyes and a red rash that begins on the head and spreads down to the trunk and limbs. Serious complications can occur, such as blindness, viral meningitis or pneumonia — or even death, as was the case recently for two unvaccinated children in Texas.

The measles virus spreads through the air when a person who is infected breathes, coughs, sneezes or talks. It may also spread through direct contact with droplets from the nose and throat of a person who is infected, according to the CPHO.

The measles virus can stay in the air or on surfaces for up to two hours after a person who is infected has left the space. Someone with measles is contagious for four days before the rash is noticeable, and for up to four days after the rash occurs.

Morrison said those most at risk of severe illness include unvaccinated individuals, particularly young children, pregnant women and those with compromised immune systems.

Vaccine offered for free on P.E.I.

The measles vaccine is part of the province's childhood vaccine program, administered at 12 months and again at 18 months.

The CPHO's current recommendations for vaccination:

• Adults born before 1970 are considered to have acquired natural immunity and do not require the vaccine
• Anyone travelling outside of Canada should receive one dose of measles vaccine.
• Adults born in or after 1970 who have neither had measles, nor have received two doses of vaccine, should receive two doses.
• Regardless of age, students entering post-secondary education, health-care workers and military personnel should receive two doses if they have no evidence of having had measles and no documentation of having received two doses of the vaccine.

Newcomers to P.E.I. are also contacted by public health nursing. Morrison said there are clinics that help ensure new children in the province have their immunization records reviewed for all routine vaccines.

"By Grade 1 entry, we know that most young people... usually between 90 and 94 per cent, depending on the year, have had both doses of measles-containing vaccine," she said.

"It's really important that we continue to do that and have high rates of measles-containing vaccine administered to protect everyone."