Measles makes Canadian comeback

Measles affects about 20 million people a year. Usually, those who are affected live in developing areas of the third world, such as Africa or Asia. Sadly though, Measles is experiencing a bit of a come back.

In Canada, there have been 39 cases of measles in 2019 alone. These cases have been reported by Quebec, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, Ontario, and Alberta.

As this is being written, there are currently 10 active cases of the disease in Canada.

Measles is one of the leading vaccine-preventable disease-causes of death. The human fight against measles has, for the most part, been a success, Unfortunately, with the rise of anti-vaxxers plaguing not just humanity, but comment sections across the web, misinformation about vaccines has many people hesitant to get vaccinated.

In 1980, 2.6 million people died of measles. In 1990, 545,000 died. By 2014, global vaccination programs had reduced the number of deaths from measles to 73,000. Nice.

Incidence and mortality rates, however, increased in 2017 to 2019 due to a decrease in immunization, thanks in large part to the aforementioned anti-vax movement. The risk of death among those infected is about 0.2%, but may be up to 10% in people with malnutrition. Most of those who die from the infection are less than five years old. So please, think of the children!

To find out where you can get vaccinated, click on the link here.

What do you think of the measles outbreak? Are you afraid of vaccinations? Let us know in the comments below.