‘Things are changing very quickly’: measles cases on the rise in Manitoba

A spike in measles cases in Manitoba, including several in the Interlake not connected to an infected person, “increases the level of concern,” Southern Health’s medical officer says.

“Things are changing very quickly,” Dr. Davinder Singh said Wednesday after the new cases popped up in the Interlake. “Up until recently, we could basically track everything back, but now we’ve had some cases where that’s not the case.

“There’s no known specific exposure to one of our exposure sites listed or to a person that they knew had measles.”

The province announced Wednesday Manitoba has 20 confirmed measles cases, a week after it announced 10 cases. There are also four probable cases.

This week, the province reported measles exposure sites at Ecole Dugald School and school buses to Oakbank Elementary, Springfield Middle School, and Springfield Collegiate Institute.

The province only reports measles statistics once a week, on Wednesdays.

The majority of cases are unvaccinated or under-vaccinated children who have been exposed in their communities.

“We want to make sure that we eliminate any barriers for access for anyone that has an interest in being immunized and hasn’t up to now, or maybe they’ve changed their mind recently,” said Singh, who works with the provincial immunization program.

“Secondly, we need to try to convince people or change people’s minds that are vaccine hesitant for whatever reason and have not gotten immunized.”

He said contrary to what some may believe, the disease can be severe. He pointed to Ontario where a child under the age of five died last year. One in 12 infected children need hospitalization, and one in 10 require intensive care, Singh said. Measles can cause middle ear or lung infections, and one in 1,000 people get encephalitis, which can lead to seizures, deafness, or brain damage.

One to three of every 1,000 people with measles will die.

For those who don’t trust the information they receive from government sources or media, Singh urged them to speak to a family doctor or pharmacist.

“We’ve already seen an increase in requests for immunization in the Boundary Trails area, which is — up to now — where the majority of cases have been and still the majority of cases overall have been in that rough geographic area,” he said, noting he couldn’t yet provide specifics.

It’s too soon to say if Manitoba will see a major outbreak of measles as Ontario and Alberta has. Ontario reported 1,243 cases Wednesday, which sent 84 people to hospital (including 63 children). Alberta has seen 297 cases and 11 hospitalizations.

“I think we have to be concerned that a rapid increase is definitely a realistic possibility, but no, it’s not a certainty. We just have to try to plan and try to inform and change people’s perceptions as much as possible to give them an accurate idea of what’s going on. Then, you’ll see which way things will go,” said Singh.

Pediatrician-scientist Dr. Peter Hotez, who’s studied anti-vaccine activism in the U.S. and is speaking in Winnipeg this week, urged public health officials to do whatever they can to debunk anti-vaccine misinformation, using simple infographics, advocacy and education.

If measles cases “really explode, there isn’t much you can do in terms of preventing severe illness,” said Hotez, with Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. Measles have killed three unvaccinated people in the U.S. this year — including two school-aged children in Texas with no underlying medical conditions.

Hotez said in an interview anti-vaccine activism has pivoted from COVID-19 to childhood immunizations, and accelerated in conservative, rural areas of the U.S. where there are lower vaccination rates and more outbreaks.

Hotez pointed to a 2024 Gallup poll asking U.S. parents if they think vaccines are more dangerous than the diseases they’re designed to prevent. It found significantly higher rates of vaccine hesitancy among parents identifying as Republicans, who reported that pediatric vaccines were either unimportant or presented higher risks due to side effects. The findings coincided with recent increases in childhood illnesses, including 15 measles outbreaks in 2024, compared to four in 2023.

“It’s that same partisan, political divide again. You could almost use it as a roadmap or a guide — at least here in Texas and the Great Plains areas where COVID vaccination rates are lowest. That’s where we’re seeing the spillover to childhood immunizations,” Hotez said.

“Even if Manitoba doesn’t get a big measles epidemic this year, you know, as these trends continue, we can eventually expect one.”

For further information on the current measles situation in Canada, visit: https://health-infobase.canada.ca/measles-rubella

— with files from Malak Abas

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca