CDC issues travel advisory for Manitoba

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is advising travellers to Manitoba about a hepatitis A virus outbreak in the province that’s killed at least four people.

On June 4, America’s leading public health agency issued a Level 1 notice warning travellers that the virus that infects the liver is contagious and spread though close person-to-person contact and by eating contaminated food or drink.

To prevent catching hepatitis A, the CDC advises travellers to Manitoba to “ensure that you are vaccinated,” practise good hand hygiene, avoid sharing syringes and practise safe sex.

As of June 4, there have been 784 reported cases of hepatitis A in Manitoba — up from 658 cases reported May 6 — with 186 in Winnipeg, up from 143 a month earlier, a provincial government spokesperson said Tuesday. There have been 165 hospitalizations, eight intensive care unit admissions and four deaths since the outbreak was first reported in April 2025.

The spokesperson said officials continue to observe the spread.

The outbreak began in northern Manitoba, then spread to several communities, with an increasing number of cases identified in recent weeks in Winnipeg, particularly among people experiencing homelessness and those with connections to other outbreak communities.

In May, the province expanded free hepatitis A vaccine coverage to staff and volunteers of Winnipeg organizations that serve the homeless population.

The CDC travel advisory for Manitoba was reported online Monday by the U.S. edition of the British tabloid the Daily Mail, which attracts 35.2 million monthly visits from U.S. readers, according to Comscore data from May 2026. Comscore is an American media measurement and analytics company.

Manitoba’s Progressive Conservative health critic said the advisory is not good news.

“This is certainly not the kind of thing we want to see Manitoba making headlines for, internationally,” Kathleen Cook said Tuesday. She said questions have been raised about whether Manitoba should declare a public health emergency for hepatitis A, as it did in May for HIV, when infection rates were three times higher than the rest of Canada. Officials at the time said declaring HIV a public health emergency can support a more co-ordinated response among health organizations and community groups and create greater awareness and education.

“There are credible public health experts in Manitoba who I’m sure are providing advice to the government,” the MLA for Roblin said.

“Whatever they need to do to marshal those resources to raise awareness and to put a stop to the outbreak, I think that’s what needs to happen — and, certainly, listening to the experts,” Cook said.

The Level 1 CDC notice for Manitoba advises travellers to “practise the usual precautions.” By comparison, Level 4 is “avoid all travel.”

Currently, a Level 3 — “reconsider non-essential travel” — advisory is in effect for parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo because of an Ebola virus outbreak. A Level 2 — “practise enhanced precautions” notice is in effect for Yemen because of malaria.

Winnipeg epidemiologist Cynthia Carr said context is important to consider in the case of the CDC advisory regarding Manitoba’s hepatitis A outbreak.

“This is a Level 1 travel notice, which is ‘practise usual precautions’ with a reader-friendly explanation that this is a contagious disease and how it can transmit,” the principal consultant at EPI Research Inc. said Tuesday.

“The advice given related to vaccination and other public health practices — hand washing, avoidance of sharing needles, practise safe sex — is very good information to be sharing for Manitobans as well as those travelling to our province.”

Carr said she’s not personally aware of other events in the recent past with CDC travel warnings for Manitoba, except for global warnings during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A spokesperson for the CDC said Tuesday that it issues travel health notices when it identifies global outbreaks — more disease cases than normally expected in a destination — or events that may impact the health of U.S. travellers while abroad.

“This Level 1 travel health notice was issued following the declaration of the hepatitis outbreak by Manitoba Health,” Belsie González said in an email. “(It) does not discourage travel but rather reinforces CDC’s recommendation that travellers get vaccinated against hepatitis A before travel.”

When asked Tuesday about the potential tourism impact of the CDC travel notice and the Daily Mail report, Travel Manitoba, the Crown corporation tasked with stimulating growth in the province’s $1.89 billion tourism industry, did not respond to a request for comment.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca