Third confirmed measles case in Vancouver

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – There are now three confirmed cases of measles in Vancouver, all with ties to french-language schools.

“We have at least one other suspected case, but it hasn’t been confirmed by lab tests just yet,” Tiffany Akins with Vancouver Coastal Health said.

The first case was confirmed over the weekend.

On Wednesday, the health authority had confirmed the second case. On Friday, it confirmed the third.

These are the three schools where the disease has been exposed:

École Jules-Verne (first 2 cases)
École Anne-Hébert (third case)
École Rose-Des-Vents (suspected)

All of the people with the confirmed cases are under 18. Akins would not say whether they were vaccinated.

“We aren’t revealing vaccination information for any of the cases because we need to protect their privacy, as they are considered patients,” she said.

“I can say that … the majority of people who get measles are unvaccinated,” she added.

She says notices have been sent to parents at the three schools.

“We are collecting information from people including parents, kids, and staff from the affected schools. We need to figure out where people have been, who they’ve been in contact with, have they had any symptoms.”

The first confirmed case was contracted outside of North America, but Akins says it’s “very unlikely that any of the cases are related to the outbreaks in the U.S. or Europe.”

She adds it appears likely that the second and third cases were contracted locally from someone else who had the disease.

“An infected person can spread measles before knowing that they’ve been infected. People are infectious to others from four days before to four days after they have the rash,” Akins said.

Measles symptoms begin with a fever, cough, runny nose, and red, watery eyes. They usually appear a week to three weeks after the person is exposed to the disease.

A rash then develops, starting on the face and spreading down the body.