Measles Surge North of Montana Triggers Public Health Shift
Alberta Health Services says anyone who lives in or plans to visit Southern Alberta is at a high risk of exposure to measles.
A Canadian province bordering Montana is experiencing a surge in measles cases that has led it to abandon its use of public alerts to notify people of site-specific exposure advisories.
Alberta Health Services (AHS) announced last week that it was issuing a standing measles exposure advisory for the South Zone of the province. This means that AHS is alerting anyone living or visiting Southern Alberta that they are at a high risk of exposure to measles.
AHS said there was an underreporting of measles cases to the health agency. Measles is a contagious virus that can be spread through the air.
The health agency stated that anyone born after 1970 who has received fewer than two doses of a measles-containing vaccine is at risk of developing measles in the area.
Alberta’s South Zone consists of 21 cities, including Lethbridge and Medicine Hat. This area of the province has a population of over 300,000 residents.
As of May 27, Alberta has a total of 618 documented cases of measles. However, 19 of these cases are known to be active. The remaining 599 are past the communicable period, which is when the virus can be transmitted to another person.
Alberta’s South Zone has 462 of these cases, accounting for 75 percent of Alberta’s total cases.
Additionally, children between the ages of 5 and 17 account for 46 percent of the province’s cases.
Many of these places in Alberta’s South Zone are a couple of hours away from Montana cities.
As of May 23, Montana has only 11 confirmed cases of measles, with the most recent case reported in Gallatin County. The first case of measles was documented in April.
It was the first time in 35 years that a case of measles had been reported in the state.
Other states surrounding Montana have also reported very few measles cases.
Idaho and South Dakota have no recorded cases, while North Dakota and Washington have 21 cases and five cases, respectively.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, the United States has a total of 1,046 measles cases. Three deaths have occurred related to the virus this year.
The last time America had more than 1,000 measles cases was in 2019.
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Zachery Schmidt is the founder of The Montana Chronicles. If you have any tips, please send them to montanachronicles@proton.me.
Photo “Kid with Measles” by Dave Haygarth. CC BY 2.0.