With no local cases since July, medical officer of health said measles response plan, building relationships, and more helped stymie the local outbreak
The measles outbreak that spread across Ontario and the Algoma region earlier this year is over – for now.
There hasn’t been a case in the Algoma region since July, and on Oct. 6 the province’s chief medical officer of health, Kieran Moore, declared the measles outbreak was over.
Since the local outbreak began in April, there have been 151 cases reported locally – roughly six per cent of the 2,375 measles cases reported across the province since last October.
“Last month, we provided a brief update that we stood down incident management response due to no further measles cases in our region,” said Dr. Jennifer Loo, medical officer of health.
“I’m really happy to report that the chief medical officer of health also officially declared the provincial measles outbreak over.”
Algoma Public Health officials said a variety of measures helped contain the local outbreak, which were a “critical component” of the provincial response.
As measles cases spiked worldwide, the health unit took pre-emptive action to prepare for an outbreak in the region, including updating its measles response plans and working closely with local health-care providers.
“We had preparedness exercises with tabletop simulations. We also had timely support and education – from an infection prevention control standpoint – to our local health-care providers so they could be aware of the risk and do timely diagnoses, testing, and prevention,” Loo said.
The health unit carried out “very robust” case and contact management throughout the outbreak by contacting those exposed to the virus and issuing press releases in the event of public exposure.
Outreach immunization clinics were also held through the course of the outbreak, which – due to education and building relationships – “actually resulted in many previously hesitant individuals making the choice to get immunized,” Loo said.
Loo previously spoke with SooToday about how misinformation contributed to the local measles outbreak – and how building community relationships helped stop its spread.