Ontario sees first measles death in more than a decade after young child dies

A young child has died of measles in Ontario, marking the first death in the province from the highly contagious virus in more than 10 years, a Public Health Ontario report confirms.

A young child has died of measles in Ontario, marking the first death in the province from the highly contagious virus in more than 10 years, a Public Health Ontario report confirms.

The child, who was under the age of five, was not immunized against the virus, according to the report, which was published on Thursday.

The report also confirms this is the first measles death in the province in more than a decade.

Public Health Ontario says that there have been 22 confirmed cases of measles reported in the province in 2024. Of those individuals, 13 were children and nine were adults. Four of the adults were previously immunized, two were unimmunized, and two had an unknown immunization status.

The cases spanned across nine different public health units and the source of transmission in 15 or the 22 cases is believed to be travel, the report notes.

The highest number of cases were reported by Toronto Public Health and public health officials in Hamilton, which each confirmed six cases of measles in their regions respectively. 

Five cases required hospitalization and all of those cases were among children under the age of nine who were not vaccinated. The child who died was among the children who were hospitalized.