After surpassing the United States in confirmed measles cases, Alberta has cracked 1,400 cases.
The latest numbers from the province on Friday show 31 new cases–namely from the North zone–for a total of 1,407 cases. There are single cases in the Edmonton and Central zones, six in Calgary, and five in the south, the zone with the most number of cases at 822.
Children 5-17 make up the majority of cases at 608; however, of Alberta’s measles cases, only 27 are communicable.
Alberta Health Services (AHS) issued an alert for Grande Prairie in the North Zone on Friday for a contagious person who visited the High Prairie Health Complex Emergency Department on 5101 38 Street on July 16 from 12:40 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
It asks anyone who visited the location and was born in or after 1970, and has fewer than two documented doses of a measles vaccine, may be at risk for developing measles. Those being asked should monitor for measles symptoms and are “strongly encouraged to review their immunization records.”
Symptoms include:
- Fever of 38.3 C or higher.
- Cough, runny nose and/or red eyes.
- A rash that appears three to seven days after a fever starts, usually beginning behind the ears and on the face and spreading down to the body, then to the arms and legs.
AHS says the rash appears red and blotchy on light skin colours, while it can appear purple or darker than the skin around it for darker skin colours, or it may be hard to see.
Meanwhile, the province says the measles numbers don’t reflect risk in the community, because some Albertans may have undiagnosed measles, and the data does not necessarily reflect the number of people exposed.
This comes after Alberta became a hotspot for measles, receiving the title of most measles cases per capita in North America, and more recently, surpassing the United States in total cases. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says the U.S. has 1,309 cases as of July 15.
Canada has the most cases on the continent and in the Americas overall, with at least 3,822 measles cases. Mexico has the second-highest number of cases at 2,587 cases, according to July data from the Pan American Health Organization. Costa Rica has the lowest cases with one.
Canada declared measles eliminated in 1998.
Meanwhile, one person in Canada–an infant–has died of measles in Ontario, the province with the highest number of cases at 2,276, while at least four people have died from measles in Mexico. Three deaths have been reported in the U.S., which officials say were unvaccinated.