Ontario measles cases up by 140 this week, province's top doctor says

Measles cases in Ontario have increased by 140 this week, for a total of 1,383 cases, the province's top doctor said.

A total of 98 people have been hospitalized, said Dr. Kieran Moore, the province's chief medical officer of health. That's an increase of 14 people compared to numbers released last week by Public Health Ontario.

The majority of measles cases are in southwest Ontario in farming and rural communities, Moore said. Local health units have been translating materials to Low German, which is primarily spoken among these communities, to inform people about measles symptoms and the benefits of being vaccinated.

"Given the numbers in these communities that are unvaccinated and we're dealing with measles, the most infectious virus that we know of, it will be very difficult to control," he said in an interview with Radio-Canada on Tuesday.

"I'm happy that they're able to keep the numbers down to 100 to 150 Ontarians that are getting infected on a weekly basis. To me that's tremendous, hard and difficult work," Moore said.

Health units have also been communicating with community leaders and speaking with local press, he said.

Moore said there may be multiple reasons why these communities have low vaccination rates, such as "trust of government [and] belief in independent decision-making."

"We have to support them, provide information to them on the benefits of vaccination," he said.

Last week, Moore said the bulk of measles cases were traced to a Mennonite wedding in New Brunswick. One person can normally infect 16 other people who are not vaccinated, he said on Tuesday.

He said measles is not spreading in schools, but instead in social environments and family gatherings.

Moore asked everyone in the province to at least get one dose of the vaccine, with two doses being preferred, particularly for children.

WATCH | Majority of measles cases in Ontario amongst unvaccinated people:

The number of measles cases is growing in Canada largely driven by surging cases in Ontario and Alberta. The outbreaks have caused frustration among health professionals who say more needs to be done to combat misinformation about the disease and vaccines.

In Ontario, the measles vaccine is available as an MMR vaccine and MMRV vaccine, according to the government's website.

Two doses of the measles vaccine provides over 97 per cent protection against measles across a lifetime, Moore said.

He said the virus typically peaks in late winter and spring.

"I'm hopeful as school breaks and summer is here that our number of cases will go down, but you can never let your guard down against measles. We have to maintain high levels of immunization."