“The problem is that people are not vaccinated and the more we travel, the more we propagate the disease,” said Stacey Smith?, A specialist in mathematical modeling of infectious diseases at the University of Ottawa, in a video interview granted Wednesday to ctvnews.ca.
This text is a translation of an article by CTV New.
Ms. Smith?, Who uses a question mark in her name to differentiate himself from other people with a similar name, described the increase in cases of measles as “powder maker ready to explode”.
“The only reason we are not experiencing a massive pandemic of measles is that we have implemented very effective vaccination programs for many decades,” she said.
According to the Faculty of Medicine of the University of British Columbia, measles is up to six times more contagious than COVVI-19.
Ms. Smith’s warning comes as another expert in infectious diseases sounds alarm on increased risk in the United States during the advanced travel months.
According to DRE Tina Tan, professor at the Northwestern University in Chicago, it is a “public health crisis” in Canada, the United States and other countries affected by measles epidemics, stressing that infected people can fall “extremely sick” and even die.
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“If they are not vaccinated and they travel to a region where there are a number of measles cases, they run an increased risk of being exposed and contract measles,” said DRE Tan, who is president of the‘Infectious Disease Society of America, In a video interview granted Wednesday at ctvnews.ca.
DRE TAN has added that measles represents a greater threat when more unvaccinated people travel and are exposed to infected people.
“All countries run the same risk when travel is more frequent during the summer,” she added.
Who is most at risk?
According to the Canadian government, the risk of contracting measles is high for people who go to regions where this very contagious disease spreads and who have not developed immunity through vaccination or previous infection.
“Currently, measles is largely transmitted in many countries and Canadians can be exposed to it when they travel abroad. “Canadians must ensure that they are protected if they travel outside Canada.”
-Agence of Canada Public Health in an email sent to CTV News
Most of the people who contracted measles this year in Canada were exposed to the virus in the country, with 3,311 cases identified on June 28, according to the latest data from the federal government. The 52 cases from abroad are linked to trips to Afghanistan, Bahamas, Cambodia, the Czech Republic, England, France, India, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, Pakistan, Philippines, Romania, Somalia, South Korea, Uganda, the United States and Vietnam.
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Jeffrey Pernica, specialist in pediatric infectious diseases at the McMaster Children’s Hospital and McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, said that people who go to regions where epidemics are underway, especially in British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario, run a higher risk, Especially if they are not vaccinated or immune to the disease.
According to him, the risk exists whether they are national or international trips.
“Right now, Canada is experiencing certain difficulties linked to measles epidemics,” said Pernica in a video entrepreneur granted on Wednesday to ctvnews.ca, stressing that Canada has more cases of measles than the United States and other countries in the Americas. “The safest thing for most Canadians is to ensure that their vaccinations, against measles and others, are up to date.”
Overall “moderate” risk in Canada
Despite these warnings, the Canadian government states that all countries, including Canada, are currently subject to level 1 health notice for measles, the lowest risk level. A level 1 notice recommends that travelers take health precautions, in particular to ensure that their routine vaccinations are up to date.
However, the number of cases in Canada has been at its highest level for 27 years, with more than 3,700 cases reported on June 28 of this year, compared to only 17 for the whole year 1998.
ASPC has continued to monitor the situation and assesses the overall risk as being “moderate”. The federal agency indicates that inside the country, measles continued to spread in connection with travel.
Benefit was eliminated in Canada in 1998, which means that all new cases are imported from other countries, but that their national propagation is stopped within one year, according to the ASPC.
However, Canada could lose its disposal status if the situation did not change by November, according to the ASPC.