how will the measles outbreak in alberta affect kids?
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dr. daniel gregson, an infectious diseasae specialist said measles can have severe consequences.
lorraine hjalte/postmedia
with the measles count inching closer to the 1,000 mark in alberta, this could mean dire consequences for the province’s youngest and most vulnerable.
as of friday, the province has recorded 778 cases of the measles in alberta, with 364 diagnosed within kids and teenagers aged five to 17 years. over 200 cases have been diagnosed in children younger than five years old, a demographic dr. daniel gregson, an infectious disease specialist says is especially vulnerable to developing serious complications from the virus.
“measles complication rates are higher the younger you are and so, under five, you have a much higher incidence of complications which require hospitalizations,” he said.
“common ones are pneumonia, unremitting diarrhea and then there are some rare complications like encephalitis that can result in admissions as well.”
as of the time this article was published, five people are hospitalized, two of whom are in the icu.
for weeks, doctors, experts and government officials have encouraged albertans to get vaccinated against the measles, attributing the rise in cases to poor vaccination rates over the last two decades.
measles immunization amongst the young needs to increase says doctor
a vial of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine.
mary conlon/ap
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the reason the infection is spreading fastest among kids and teenagers is because of the low immunization rates in that demographic, according to gregson.
“and transmission also happens when people who are not immunized gather together in large numbers and that’s generally in schools.”
with school almost out for the summer, that may mitigate the exponential rise in cases but with the count inching closer to 1,000, that increases the possibility of fatalities.
but it’s a difficult infection to control, gregson cautioned, because it can be transmitted airborne and can stay in the air for approximately two hours after being released.
“so you can imagine, someone going to a store to pick up something,” he said. “there could have been somebody in there who had been incubating in that four-day window and breathing in the store and then the store becomes a source of infection for other people, even when that person is no longer there.”
most adults who get the measles would see experience cold-like symptoms and a rash. but the complications arise for children who could also experience ear infections, pneumonia, dehydration and in rare cases encephalitis and blindness.
on average, one patient in every 1,000 affected could die from the disease, although it’s difficult to predict how that may pattern. “we may see no deaths for the first thousand and then see three deaths in the second thousand,” he hypothesized.
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should cases rise into the quadruples, kids younger than five years are most vulnerable to fatalities, he said.
ontario recorded its first death of the year from the measles outbreak in the province, after an infant born prematurely died from contracting the virus before birth.
it is possible for pregnant mothers to pick up the infection and transmit to their babies pre-birth, gregson said. “it could be quite devastating.”
a pregnant mother infected with the disease could see increased risk of a premature birth, a miscarriage, a stillborn birth or a low baby weight. the infection if passed on, could mean congenital measles for the fetus and respiratory complications post-birth.
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