No Measles Worries - Yet

Cases of measles have been reported in British Columbia recently, but so far, there are no concerns in this province.

That's from Dr. Michael Routledge, who's the medical officer of health for Southern Health-Sante Sud.

"We've seen the occasional travel case in Manitoba in the last number of years," he says, "Which have not turned into a larger outbreak so far. Which suggest we're doing pretty well without immunizations, but we have areas where people are not immunized. But right now, we don't have any measles activity."

Routledge stresses that can change.

"One of the challenges of measles is that it's very infectious," he says, "And can be infectious even before people have symptoms. So when we do see cases, if it occurs in an area among a group of people who aren't immunized, it can turn into a number of cases quickly."

He recommends being vaccinated, adding your first step is to discuss that with your health care provider. Routledge adds Manitoba has lower immunization rates than other provinces.