‘It’s very localized’: Health minister maintains no need for chief medical officer of health measles announcement

Edmonton doctors say the chief medical officer of health needs to speak on measles cases. The province says that will only happen if the situation worsens.

Three new cases of measles were announced Wednesday, bringing the total number of cases close to a dangerous level, according to an infection control specialist.

One of the new cases is in the central zone and the other two are in the south zone.

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“I’m really happy to report that we’ve seen no new cases in Edmonton or Calgary or North Zone, and that’s been since about mid-March,” said Health Minister Adriana LaGrange.

The new cases come a day after warnings were issued about potential exposure at a west Edmonton Costco Business Centre and Chick-fil-A.

Those cases are linked to an outbreak in Two Hills, east of Edmonton.

“It’s very localized, so that will continue to be monitored by the medical officers of health for those areas,” LaGrange said.

“They’re contact-tracing … some of the situations are within families, so they’re, of course, making sure that (families) have the information they need as well.”

“It may be localized, but it’s still growing, it’s not peaked,” said Richard Owen, the president of the Edmonton Zone Medical Association. “We had six cases on the 13 of March, which is more than we had in the previous five years … and it’s doubled every two weeks since.

“If it carries on growing … someone’s going to die from this, from measles in Alberta.”

The rising case numbers are a concern for health experts, who say the 50 case mark is not a point the province wants to get to.

“I have a bad feeling we’re going to get past that and once we do, we’re starting into a realm where elimination is no longer an option, now it’s management,” said Jason Tetro, a long-term microbiology and infection control specialist.

“What ends up happening is that we can no longer simply identify individual exposure locations. We now have to assume that it’s really starting to spread within that particular community, and we are seeing where these outbreaks are occurring and so we should be raising the threat level in them.”

On Tuesday, LaGrange said the measles outbreak in the province wasn’t dire enough to warrant a message from the chief medical officer of health, Dr. Mark Joffe.

“If and when it becomes something that is more than just a localized concern, then we will absolutely make sure that the chief medical officer of health gets out there,” LaGrange said Wednesday.

She added that the province is increasing efforts to spread public awareness on the measles outbreak and how Albertans can stay safe.

“We have to get out of the inconvenience and into the outbreak mentality and this is where the chief medical officer of health is going to come in, because we’ve got to get those vaccination levels up and we got to get people starting to realize that measles is now in their community and is posing a threat,” said Tetro.

“There’s a great chart from Alberta Health Services that the chief medical officer of health should be showing us, to show us who is at risk and, more importantly, who really needs to get vaccinated as soon as possible.”

Alberta isn’t the only province dealing with rising measles cases. Between Oct. 18 and April 2, Ontario reported a total of 661 cases.

“The sharp increase in the number of outbreak cases and the geographic spread in recent weeks is due to continued exposures and transmission among individuals who have not been immunized,” Public Health Ontario wrote in a report on the outbreak.

Vaccination figures in Alberta are on the uptick, according to LaGrange.

“Approximately 90 per cent of young Albertans, by the time they reach 13, have had both doses of their measles vaccine,” she added. “By the time they reach 17 in Alberta, we’re at about 93 per cent, so that’s a very positive step.”

The total number of Albertans who have received both doses of the measles vaccine is around 70 per cent, according to the Edmonton Zone Medical Staff Association.

“If it gets into communities with a very low vaccination rate, nine out of 10 people could catch measles, and we know how infectious it is,” Owen said.

“I’m sure the government is doing whatever they can to trace and isolate, and make sure people don’t get out of their cars if they’re sick and they don’t go to school if they’re sick, but I think the messaging could be stronger.”

Officials want people to be aware that the measles vaccine has been used for more than 50 years and is “completely safe,” added Tetro.

Albertans are encouraged to check their vaccination records by calling 811 or checking their health records online.

Symptoms of measles include:

• a red, spot-like rash starting on the face;
• a high fever, cough, runny nose;
• red eyes.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Chelan Skulski and The Canadian Press