New potential measles exposure in southern Alberta including Calgary: AHS

Alberta Health Services (AHS) has issued a public alert after being notified of additional confirmed measles cases in Alberta's south health zone with potential exposure in Calgary, Rocky View County, Coaldale, Lethbridge and Taber.

AHS said individuals who were in the following locations during the specified dates and times may have been exposed to measles:

AHS advised that anyone who was present at these locations during these times and was born in or after 1970 and has less than two doses of the measles vaccine is at risk for developing the highly contagious disease.

Those individuals are recommended to monitor themselves for measles symptoms and review their immunization records.

Measles symptoms include:

Alberta has recorded 89 measles cases as of noon on April 17. Twenty-one cases have been confirmed in the south health zone, while five are confirmed in Calgary.

Dawn Bowdish, an immunologist and professor in the department of medicine at McMaster University, said any measles case is cause for concern because vaccination rates are lower than they need to be.

"We also know that vaccination rates tend to be really inconsistent. So some regions may reach the 95 per cent target [for immunization]. Other regions might be down to 20 or 30 per cent," she said.

"That means should one of these infections hit one of those vulnerable communities, you're going to see an explosion of cases, and because it's such an incredibly contagious virus, stopping these or slowing these down takes an enormous amount of public health resources."

Bowdish explained babies and young children who are too young to be vaccinated are at risk for measles as they rely on those around them to be vaccinated for their protection. 

The AHS website lists children under the age of five, people with weakened immune systems, and those who are pregnant as having the highest risk for severe complications from the virus.

Eligible people can book free measles immunizations through Health Link at 811 or by contacting your local community health centre.

AHS has a web page dedicated to information on potential exposure locations, advisories and immunization information.