Dr. Kieran Moore Talks Measles Outbreak

Monday, 17 March 2025 07:29

Just over half of of the measles cases in Ontario have been reported in the Southwestern Public Health region.

ONTARIO - A measles outbreak is underway in Ontario and the Southwestern Public Health unit is in the middle of it.

As of Friday March 14th 2025, 350 measles cases had been reported in the province since October, 2024 and 181 of them were in Oxford, Elgin or Middlesex.

Ontario's Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore called the Heart FM studio to shine a light on the virus on Friday. He explained all of the symptoms and how they progress.

"Fever, cough, runny nose and you'll have a redness to your eyes like a pink eye and the on day four roughly, you'll develop the dotty red rash from head to toe. So it's a progression and on average you're infectious to others for those full eight days, four days before the rash and four days after the rash."

He adds the virus can spread very easily.

"On average, one person can spread it to 16 other non-immunized individuals. It is highly infectious, it spreads through the air, and we really want to minimize what is going on in the southwest corridor of Ontario and get this outbreak under control."

As of 1996, health officials started recommending that all children receive two doses of the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine. The first dose is administered after their first birthday and the second dose is given between the ages of four and six. Thanks to this, Dr. Moore says measles was officially eradicated from Canada in 1998.

Dr. Moore says we haven't seen this high a number of measles infections since 1995, and it's due to people not getting vaccinated to protect themselves. He adds people born before 1970 have developed a natural immunity to measles for the most part, so outbreak is mostly affecting the younger generation.

"Those that are getting hospitalized right now are children and adolescents. It's not older individuals, it's the children and adolescents that we have to protect."

Thirty-one hospitalizations have been reported in Ontario since October, and one person has been sent to the ICU. Dr. Moore says says the hospitalized cases are usually due to pneumonia or brain inflammation,

If you are unsure if you're vaccinated against measles, Dr. Moore says you should contact your healthcare provider or your local health unit.

If you are not vaccinated against measles and you start showing symptoms, Dr. Moore says you should call your healthcare provider over the phone before seeing them in person.

You can listen to our full interview with Dr. Moore below: