Achi news desk-
Quebec appears to be winning its battle against the rising tide of measles after 45 cases were confirmed across the province this year.
“We haven’t had any cases of locally transmitted measles since March 25, so that’s good news,” said Dr. Paul Le Guerrier, who is in charge of immunization for Montreal Public Health.
There are currently 17 patients with measles in Quebec, and the latest case is someone who was infected while abroad, he said.
But getting to this point was no small task.
Le Guerrier said once a local transmission was detected, news was quickly spread among health centers to ensure proper protocols were followed – such as not letting people who might be infected sit in waiting rooms for hours in the end.
Around 90 staff were then put to work, tracing those who were in contact with positive cases and who have not been properly vaccinated. They were given post-exposure prophylaxis, which prevents disease, Le Guerrier said.
From there, a vaccination campaign was launched, especially in day care, schools and neighborhoods with low vaccination rates. There was an effort to convince parents to have their children vaccinated.
Boost to vaccination in schools
Some schools, mostly in Montreal, had vaccination rates as low as 30 or 40 percent.
“Vaccination was well received and parents responded well,” said Le Guerrier. “Some schools went from being very low to being as high as 85 to 90 percent of the vaccination.”
But it is not only children who have not been properly vaccinated. Le Guerrier said people need two doses after age one to be fully vaccinated, and urged people to check their status.
There are all kinds of reasons why people are not vaccinated, but only about five percent are against immunization, he said. So far, around 10,000 people have been vaccinated against measles across the province during this campaign, said Le Guerrier.
The next step is to continue to push for more vaccinations, but he says small outbreaks are likely in the future as measles is spreading abroad and travelers are likely to bring it back with them.
The vaccination rate needs to be improved, says an expert
Dr said. Donald Vinh, expert on infectious diseases from the McGill University Health Center, that it is not time to rest on our laurels, but this is a good sign that public health can act quickly and that people are ready to listen to health recommendations.
“We are not seeing new cases or at least the new cases are not more than the number of cases we can handle,” Vinh said.
“So these are all encouraging signs, but I don’t think it’s a sign that we need to be complacent.”
Vinh said that there are also signs that the public is lagging behind in terms of vaccine provision and that it is important to respond to this with better education and access. Otherwise, microbes take advantage of our weaknesses, he says.
Vaccination coverage needs to be up to an adequate level, Vinh said, or more small cases like this will continue to happen.
“And it’s very possible that we may not be able to get one under control if we don’t react quickly enough,” he said.
Ad blocking test (Why?)
Source link
Related
