With no local cases since July, medical officer of health said measles response plan, building relationships, and more helped stymie the local outbreak<\/p>\n
The measles outbreak that spread across Ontario and the Algoma region earlier this year is over \u2013 for now.<\/p>\n
There hasn\u2019t been a case in the Algoma region since July, and on Oct. 6 the province\u2019s chief medical officer of health, Kieran Moore, declared the measles outbreak was over.<\/p>\n
Since the local outbreak began in April, there have been 151 cases reported locally \u2013 roughly six per cent of the 2,375 measles cases reported across the province since last October.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast month, we provided a brief update that we stood down incident management response due to no further measles cases in our region,\u201d said Dr. Jennifer Loo, medical officer of health.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really happy to report that the chief medical officer of health also officially declared the provincial measles outbreak over.\u201d<\/p>\n
Algoma Public Health officials said a variety of measures helped contain the local outbreak, which were a \u201ccritical component\u201d of the provincial response.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had preparedness exercises with tabletop simulations. We also had timely support and education \u2013 from an infection prevention control standpoint \u2013 to our local health-care providers so\u00a0they could be aware of the risk and do timely diagnoses, testing, and prevention,\u201d Loo\u00a0said.<\/p>\n
The health unit carried out \u201cvery robust\u201d case and contact management throughout the outbreak by contacting those exposed to the virus and issuing press releases in the event of public exposure.<\/p>\n
Outreach immunization clinics were also held through the course of the outbreak, which \u2013 due to education and building relationships \u2013 \u201cactually resulted in many previously hesitant individuals making the choice to get immunized,\u201d Loo said.<\/p>\n