In a tragic turn of events, a child under the age of five from Hamilton, Ontario, has died from measles, marking the province's first such fatality since tracking began in 1989. The child had not been vaccinated against the highly infectious respiratory virus, according to Public Health Ontario (PHO).
"This is a profoundly tragic situation where a young child has left us too soon with their whole life ahead of them," lamented Dr. Brendan Lew, Hamilton's associate medical officer of health. The city's public health agency has confirmed six cases of measles this year, none of the individuals were vaccinated.
The death of the child has underscored the resurgence of measles, a disease that had been largely under control in Canada due to high immunization coverage. However, recent years have seen a worrying increase in cases, both in Ontario and globally, particularly in Europe.
The PHO has reported 22 cases in Ontario this year, a figure that matches the recent high set in 2014. All of these cases were in people born after 1970, including 13 children. In 12 of these instances, the children were not immunized, while the vaccination status of one was unknown. Five infections, all in unvaccinated children under five years old, required hospitalization.
The majority of measles cases this year, 15 out of 22, were linked to travel. "In Ontario, measles has been rare, owing to the successful elimination of measles in Canada and high immunization coverage. As a result, measles cases are predominantly associated with travel," the PHO report stated.
The tragic death has sparked renewed calls for vaccination. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, speaking in Winnipeg, called the child's death "a tragedy that nobody wants to see." He urged everyone to listen to their doctors and health professionals on how to keep their children safe.
Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious diseases consultant at Toronto General Hospital, echoed these sentiments, emphasizing that the vaccine is "extremely effective. It's safe, it's widely available, and it's free."
The typical vaccination schedule for Canadian children includes two doses of the combined measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine before they enter school. However, Bogoch noted that some young children may have missed a dose due to interruptions to routine childhood vaccination schedules during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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