Measles outbreak not expected in NWT
Territory 'not immune' to negative impacts of vaccine myths, says chief medical officer
Laura Busch
Northern News Services
Published Friday, May 2, 2014
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
There has not been a case of measles in the NWT since 1992 and, as long as immunization rates stay high, residents should not be overly concerned about the declared outbreak of the contagious disease in Alberta.
Chief medical officer Dr. Andre Corriveau confirmed Wednesday that there are no cases of measles in the territory and, while Alberta Health Services officially declared an outbreak Tuesday, he was skeptical whether the virus would make its way North of the border into the territory.
"We're on heightened vigilance, but at this point there is no reason to think that (the Alberta outbreak) changes our situation dramatically," he told Yellowknifer during a news conference Wednesday.
With more than 3.6 million Albertans and 25 confirmed cases as of Tuesday, the virus is not yet wide-spread enough to cause a serious concern, he explained.
"On a relative perspective, it's still a low risk for us. If you have children and you go to spend your weekend in Edmonton and are at the West Edmonton Mall, the chance of being exposed is still fairly low," said Corriveau.
Measles is a viral infection that affects the respiratory and immune systems as well as the skin. Symptoms tend to begin with a fever, cough, red eyes and general fatigue. A few days later, a spotty rash develops.
"If you're up to date in your vaccines and your kids are, there is no real concern," said Corriveau.
Although measles was largely eradicated in the developed world thanks to the effectiveness of the vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella (MMR), it and other preventable diseases have re-emerged recently thanks to a decrease in the number of Canadians who receive their childhood immunizations, said Corriveau, pointing to another current example of whooping cough spreading in P.E.I.
"It becomes more of a challenge over time, I think, when people haven't seen illness," said Corriveau. "When our parents were seeing kids with polio and whooping cough, they had grown (up) in that kind of an environment so it wasn't hard to convince them to get a vaccine.
"But if you have a new generation that's never seen any of that, the challenge is making sure people are aware and are reminded."
Further complicating the matter is the amount of false and misleading information available on the Internet that claims vaccines cause autism and myriad other health problems that have been thoroughly debunked by the scientific community.
Corriveau said vaccines are not always effective, and in the NWT the biggest challenge is transporting vaccines to isolated communities without exposing them to heat, freezing temperatures, or anything else that might affect their potency. Also, some people cannot be vaccinated due to an allergy or other medical issue. Those people rely on the immunization coverage - or the percentage of the population that has been immunized - to keep them safe from exposure to preventable diseases.
Coincidentally, Alberta's measles outbreak comes during National Immunization Awareness Week, which takes place from April 26 to May 3.
The main goal of Immunization Awareness Week is to provide people with information on vaccines, their risks and benefits, and to debunk as many of the current myths out there as possible, said Corriveau.
While immunization rates in the NWT remain fairly high, with 90 per cent of eligible residents believed to have received their core vaccines, the overall trend across Canada to refuse immunizations puts the population at risk of contracting a preventable disease.
"I don't think that in the current context of the Northwest Territories that it has a significant impact, but we collectively - and I've spoken with my colleagues and we do discuss this - we have a sense that it is becoming a problem across the country," said Corriveau. "Not just here, but Europe has had major drops in immunization rates for things like measles and rubella, and that's where the outbreaks started to occur five, six, seven years ago.
"We're starting to see that in some parts of Canada now and I think we're not immune, if I can use that pun, to those kinds of secular influences, and we have to be ready to counter it."
For parents and others looking for an easy way to keep track of immunizations, a new Canada-wide smartphone app called ImmunizeCA is available to download. The app records family vaccine information, can be used to book appointments and provides information on vaccines and disease outbreaks in your region.
