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Manitoba is on track to eclipse year-end measles totals for 2025 in a matter of weeks if the pace of new positive cases continues.
Another 43 new cases were detected between the final days of February and March 7, according to the latest data from Manitoba public health, released Friday.
That brings the total for 2026 to 291 — only 28 fewer than all the confirmed cases in Manitoba last year, when the outbreak began.
There was only a single case confirmed in the province in March 2025.
There were only 29 probable cases of measles in Manitoba in 2025, compared with 41 in the first weeks of 2026.
So far this year, 33 people have been hospitalized because of measles. Two-thirds of them were 10 or younger, and all but one person was unimmunized, the data shows.
There were no potential exposure sights announced by the province this week. Past exposure locations are listed on the government’s website.
Manitoba remains the measles hot spot in the country, federal government health data shows. The federal data has yet to be updated with the latest cases.
There is no cure for measles. Treatment focuses on relieving the symptoms.
The initial symptoms include fever, malaise, cough, runny nose and conjunctivitis, also called pink eye. Patients usually get white spots on the inside of the mouth about two or three days later, and then a rash that can be painful.
People with confirmed cases are infectious from four days before the rash to four days after it appears.
The disease spreads through droplets that form in the air when an infected person coughs, sneezes or talks, and the virus can linger in the air for two hours.