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This social media element is something I found interesting. It is the first post I came across that showcases the virus for what it really is, a deadly virus. It also proves that the majority of its victims are children. It is an urgent post as more people are being affected by the virus. Being unvaccinated is one of the biggest issues and the main reason the virus has made a big comeback. I also liked this tweet as it shows how many places have been affected, it's not just north America.

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This is another tweet I found very interesting. It states the course of the virus and how to protect yourself. The only way to protect yourself is the vaccine. This tweet perfectly encapsulates the main focus on how to prevent further outbreak. The image is a good way of grabbing the readers attention and is a quick way of obtaining relevant information on the topic.

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This is an excellent tweet as it explains the measles outbreaks and debunks any myths people may have about it. It is often difficult to know what information is accurate or what is being blown out of proportion. It is important to focus on information that is backed up by an accredited author and proper research. This article is great because it is information from Canada's chief health officer. This will give Canadians reassurance that the information they are reviewing is accurate and that they can trust it.

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This article is scary as the measles becomes more prevalent in Canada. It is now spreading farther and becoming more likely of outbreak again. This article highlights the number of cases reported in Canada and how the virus is once again on the rise. It is informational and a good read for anyone interested in the study of how it is growing and spreading.

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Measles outbreaks continue to be on the rise in Canada. A new measles case has just been confirmed in BC, making it the 27th case in Canada since the beginning of this year. A majority of the cases have been in the BC region, with some occurring in other provinces due to travel. Despite a large number of cases, health officials have said that it is unlikely to spread beyond the already formed clusters.
Canadian Government Issues New Warning About The Dangers Of Homeopathic Alternatives To Vaccines
Not too long ago, Interior Health in BC confirmed another case of measles. According to the BC Center for Disease Control, this would make this the 27th case in Canada in 2019. The Government of Canada has confirmed that cases of measles have been confirmed in BC, Quebec, Ontario, and the Northwest Territories.

By February 9th of this year, BC had two confirmed cases of measles. As of today, there are now 20 confirmed cases in BC alone. The most recent case was confirmed only moments ago by Interior Health. This new case is from 100 Mile House in British Columbia.

Health officers have been able to determine the cause of the infection. They believe is it in connection to a previous case of measles also in the 100 Mile House. This case was confirmed on March 9, 2019.Both cases at the 100 Mile House are from outbreaks outside of the province and are not believed to be linked to the cases in BC.

A second case of #measles confirmed in the IH region, in 100 Mile House, and connected to a previous case in the area. Both cases are travel-related and are not linked to cases on the B.C. coast. More info: https://t.co/Z04nbL3Znz
- Interior Health (@Interior_Health) March 22, 2019

Interior Health is now monitoring and following up with the individuals who may have been in contact with the measles patients. Post-exposure protection will be offered to these individuals. The risk to the broader public is considered low, however, Interior Health has mentioned where the infected individual was for the safety of the province.

Interior Health has stated that if you were in 100 Mile House on March 13, 2019, at Interlakes Market from 6:30 PM to 9:30 PM, you may have been in contact with the infected individual. Any concerned individual should contact a health centre and speak with a nurse to determine your vaccination history.

READ ALSO: BC Government Is Investing $3 Million To Make Sure Canadians Are Up To Date With Measles Vaccine

Vaccines prevent outbreaks like this, and save lives. Get the facts here: https://t.co/VuCVDeH3zd https://t.co/BXRJS1a79i
- Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) February 17, 2019

Despite this being the 27th case of measles this year, Dr. Reka Gustafson of Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) publicly stated that the spread of measles is unlikely. Dr. Gustafson has stated that the measles outbreaks that have occurred have been in "clusters." She stated that it was unlikely for there to be a significant community transmission of measles beyond the already identified clusters.
Thousands Of Locals Are Supporting The Movement To Make Vaccines Mandatory In BC Schools
VCH media relations personnel have stated that the general public is not at a risk due to high vaccination rates. In reality, vaccination rates in Vancouver, where most of the measles outbreaks occurred, are below average.In order to ensure herd immunity, a vaccination rate of 90% or higher needs to be achieved. Vancouver currently has a vaccination rate for measles of 83.1%.

Measles has been able to spread throughout Canada for a number of reasons. One has been through the travel of the sick individual. Last month, a traveller with measles hopped on a plane in Vancouver. They then spread the disease to the North West Territories. It is believed that the 11-year-old infected Vancouver boy was returning home from a vacation in Vietnam where measles was acquired.
Canada At Risk For Second Significant Measles Outbreak After A New Case Confirmed In Territories
Another reason measles has spread is because of clusters. In BC, 8 cases of measles were confirmed to be from two French-language schools within Vancouver after an unvaccinated child contracted the disease during a trip to Vietnam.

In order to ensure everyone has the measles vaccination, the BC government is investing $3 million in a "catch-up" program. This program will run from April to June and will allow people to receive the measles vaccine. This would ensure vaccination rates increase.

BC has also discussed picking up the Ontario method of vaccinating. This would ensure that vaccination records were provided by students before enrolment.
Ongoing Measles Outbreak Leading Young Canadians To Get Vaccinated, Even Against Parent's Wishes
Facebook is also attempting to increase vaccination rates by no longer allowing anti-vaccination groups to advertise on the website. In the past, Facebook was attacked for reportedly accepting thousands of dollars in advertising from anti-vaccination groups. Instead of vaccines, the pages were offering alternatives that included high doses of vitamin C. They also targeted parents with scary misinformation about the effects of vaccines.

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Measles Outbreaks Continue To Grow In Canada As 27th Case Is Confirmed

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Measles outbreaks continue to be on the rise in Canada. A new measles case has just been confirmed in BC, making it the 27th case in Canada since the beginning of this year. A majority of the cases have been in the BC region, with some occurring in other provinces due to travel.

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This tweet is defiantly a turning point for Canadian regarding the measles. The prime minister is taking it upon himself to explain exactly why it is important for you to vaccinate your children and why Canada has a strict vaccination schedule. It is not simply just to ensure all Canadians are healthy but it saves lives and prevents current situations. It is powerful for the leader of the country to come out and say this as defines the severity of the current outbreak situation.

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I came across this post a few weeks ago and it truly spoke volumes. The measles can affect anyone. Those who were not vaccinated when they were younger because of their parent's decision now must endure the consequences of their parent's decision. This person got infected with the virus and wanted to speak out on the severity and what it really means to not vaccinate your child. It is not just a decision that affects them short term, it affects them throughout their entire life. I thought this was an interesting aspect regarding the outbreak as you never hear from the children of anti-vaccinators themselves just the parents.

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CNN 2019-03-07 By Elizabeth Cohen, CNN

Three years ago, Joshua Nerius, a 30-year-old software product manager in Chicago, developed a high fever and a rash. Doctors prescribed antibiotics, but Nerius just got sicker and sicker.

Joshua went to the emergency room, where a doctor said it looked a lot like the measles. Had he been vaccinated as a child?

Nerius texted the question to his mother. She sent back a thumbs-down emoji.

His next stop was an isolation room at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

Nerius became so weak that at one point, he couldn't walk without assistance. He lost 25 pounds. It took months to fully recover.

"I felt horrible," he said. "It took a serious toll."

He thinks about the current measles outbreak, which started in Washington state, where dozens of children have suffered because their parents chose not to vaccinate them.

He knows that their suffering -- and his own three years ago -- could have been avoided.

"It makes me so angry. My parents thought they were doing the right thing. They were persuaded by the anti-vaxers," he said.

Measles kills

Nerius is something of a unicorn: a living adult who experienced measles recently and can describe what it feels like.

It's easy to forget how sick people get from measles or how it killed 400 to 500 people in the United States each year before the vaccine came into use in 1963, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"Measles is out of sight and out of mind, so we think it's no big deal, as Bill Shine's wife has said," said Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Offit was referring to comments last month by Darla Shine, wife of the White House communications chief, who tweeted that she wished her children had had measles like she did as a girl.

"Bring back our #ChildhoodDiseases they keep you healthy," she wrote.

Offit, a professor of pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, thinks Shine might change her mind if she'd seen the children he cared for in 1991 during a measles outbreak in Philadelphia.

"They were absolutely miserable," he remembers. "And occasionally, they were dead."

Nine children died in that outbreak, according to the Philadelphia Department of Public Health.

Offit can't understand why Shine and other anti-vaxers would prefer dead children over vaccinated children.

"When Darla Shine talks about how great it was that she had measles as a child, what she forgets to mention is that she gets to tell her story because she's alive. The ones who died -- we don't hear from them," he said.

A near miss

Nerius remembers the scariest part of his bout with measles.

He contracted the disease in May 2016, at his sister's graduation from that Northern Illinois University College of Business. The Illinois Department of Health later determined that a guest who had traveled to the graduation from outside the United States had the measles, which is highly contagious.

"I didn't interact with anyone at that graduation besides my own family, so it was literally just me walking by someone," he said.

He says the scariest part is that the day after his sister's graduation, before he knew that he'd been infected, he attended a technology convention in Las Vegas with thousands of other people.

"I was shaking hands with hundreds of people a day. I wasn't contagious yet, but it's sobering to think if the timing had been just slightly different, how many people I could have infected," he said.

Nerius doesn't blame his parents for not vaccinating him. He says they were believers in alternative medicine, and in the 1980s, there was no Internet where they could double-check what they were being told by anti-vaxers.

But today's parents have no excuse, he says. They can go to the American Academy of Pediatrics or a multitude of other sites to learn that vaccines are safe and keep children healthy.

"The science on this has been settled. It's been solved. When I look at where we are today, with people who are willfully deciding to ignore the facts, it really frustrates me," Nerius said. "I just don't understand the mindset of people who want to spread fear."

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Anti-vaxers' adult son gets measles; now, he has this message for the world

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CNN 2019-03-07 By Elizabeth Cohen, CNN Three years ago, Joshua Nerius, a 30-year-old software product manager in Chicago, developed a high fever and a rash. Doctors prescribed antibiotics, but Nerius just got sicker and sicker. Joshua went to the emergency room, where a doctor said it looked a lot like the measles.

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I came across this article on my facebook. Many people began unvaccinated their children against the measles because they were convinced the vaccine caused unwanted side effects and could cause autism and other disorders. Up until now, there had been no studies conducted to determine that it did or didn't cause those disorders and therefore it has been very black and white. This study released has truly impacted the current event dramatically. They are now able to say without a doubt it does not cause autism and they now have the research to back it up. This is a great step forward for this current event as it may encourage more to vaccinate their kids or themselves so they are not affected by the disease.

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A major new study offers yet more evidence that the vaccine that protects against measles does not increase children's risk of autism.

The study, conducted by researchers in Denmark and published this week in Annals of Internal Medicine, examined all children born in Denmark to Danish-born mothers from 1999 to 2010 ― 657,461 children.

"The study strongly supports that MMR vaccination does not increase the risk for autism, does not trigger autism in susceptible children, and is not associated with clustering of autism cases after vaccination," the researchers wrote. "It adds to previous studies through significant additional statistical power."

Among the research participants, 6,517 children were diagnosed with autism in the next decade during the study. But researchers found no increased risk for autism among those who received the MMR vaccine, which protects against measles, mumps and rubella, when compared with the children who did not receive immunization.

The researchers also found that children who might be considered high-risk, including those who had a sibling with autism, were not more likely to develop the disorder after receiving the vaccine.

The study was co-funded by the Danish Ministry of Health and Novo Nordisk Foundation, which is associated with a pharmaceutical company that does not manufacture the MMR vaccine.

The belief that the MMR vaccine increases the risk of autism stems from a debunked 1998 study based on just 12 patients and conducted by a doctor later found to have falsified data.

Though false, the belief has had real impact, fueling an international anti-vaxx movement that has contributed to numerous measles outbreaks in recent years.

An unvaccinated child vacationing with his parents in Costa Rica brought the first case of measles the country had witnessed since 2014. An outbreak of the disease last month prompted the governor of Washington to declare a state of emergency.

The World Health Organization identified vaccine hesitancy as one of 10 major threats to global health in 2019.

"The idea that vaccines cause autism is still around despite our original and other well-conducted studies," Anders Hviid, an epidemiologist at the Staten Serum Institute and one of the study's authors, told NPR. "Parents still encounter these claims on social media, by politicians, by celebrities, etc."

Some conservative politicians in the United States have contributed to misinformation surrounding vaccines.

Texas state Rep. Bill Zedler (R), a major ally of Texans for Vaccine Choice, last week claimed the measles vaccine isn't necessary because of the existence of antibiotics.

Antibiotics treat bacterial infections. Measles, however, is a highly contagious disease caused by a virus that can spread through the air.

There is no prescription medication that treats the disease, which can cause fever, runny nose and small red bumps over the entire body. In the worst cases, the disease can weaken the immune system, leading to complications such as pneumonia and encephalitis, and even to death.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends children receive two doses of the MMR vaccine, first at 12 to 15 months of age and then at 4 to 6 years of age. Two doses of the vaccine are roughly 97 percent effective at preventing measles, according to the CDC.

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Decade-Long Study Shows No Link Between Measles Vaccine And Autism

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A major new study offers yet more evidence that the vaccine that protects against measles does not increase children's risk of autism. The study, conducted by researchers in Denmark and published this week in Annals of Internal Medicine, examined all children born in Denmark to Danish-born mothers from 1999 to 2010 ― 657,461 children.

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This post that I came across on my Facebook last week hit home for me. It is a reminder that although Canada has strict rules on vaccination and prides itself in being a very healthy country we also are being affected by the new uproar of the measles. It proves that we are not invincible and that it really can affect anyone, anywhere. I hope this post is a wake-up call for people who are blind to the fact that the disease is making a comeback and it is now in Canada and in Toronto.

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Toronto Public Health has confirmed a case of measles in an infant who recently traveled abroad.

Associate Medical Officer of Health Dr. Vinita Dubey told CityNews the risk to the public is low at this time.

The unvaccinated infant did not contract measles until they came back from travelling as symptoms can take seven to 21 days to develop after exposure.

The parents of the infected infant took the child to two different health care centres, the Scarborough Health Network ER at the Birchmount Site on the evening of Feb. 28 and the Huntingdale Medical Centre in the afternoon on Feb. 26 and late afternoon on Feb 28.

Dr. Dubey said they have been able to get in touch with all the people who might have been exposed while in the waiting room at both of the locations.

She says the bigger risk to the public is for those who are travelling, especially with March break coming up. TPH recommends making sure everyone is up-to-date on their vaccinations.

"The risks of measles, getting the disease, far outweigh any risks associated with the vaccine," said Dr. Dubey.

Even though infants who are 6-12 months are not due for their MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccination, Public Health recommends getting one dose early if you are traveling to make sure they are protected.

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Public Health confirms measles case in Scarborough

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Toronto Public Health has confirmed a case of measles in an infant who recently traveled abroad. Associate Medical Officer of Health Dr. Vinita Dubey told CityNews the risk to the public is low at this time. The unvaccinated infant did not contract measles until they came back from travelling as symptoms can take seven to ...

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This is an excellent newscast that perfectly summarizes the concerns of the measles outbreak and the importance of vaccination. There are many tensions surrounding anti-vaxers and those who vaccinate. This video showcases an 18-year-old who went against his mother's wishes of not being vaccinated and got the measles vaccine to protect himself. it also showcases the severity of how many lives it affects as some are unable to be vaccinated due to age.

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Measles outbreak sparks fears, renews tensions over mandatory vaccination

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This is an excellent blog that describes the raw and real possibility of how the measles outbreak can and most likely will affect Canada. It explains the importance of vaccinating and how to prepare for the fact that Canada will be affected it is just a matter of time.

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The World Health Organization is seeing that the number of measles cases in Canada is rapidly rising. They believe that there's cause for concern. The current measles outbreak in Europe is even being called a tragedy.

Even though the vaccine has been available for more than 40 years, somehow the disease has not yet been fully eradicated. We've seen a four-fold increase of cases since 2016. The doctors from the organization are stressing just how unfortunate the situation is given the fact that it is totally preventable.
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Though our 45 instances of measles don't compare to Europe's over 21,000, the potential for brain swelling, blindness, and even death are reason enough to be a little more than worried.

Dr. Isaac Bogoch says that the main reasons why this is happening are due to immigration. Often, children who have immigrated were not vaccinated earlier in life. Unfortunately, the anti-vaccination movement has also gained power and fueled a lot of skepticism in preventative care.

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Canada Is Going To Be Hit With One Of The Worst Measles Outbreaks In Recent History

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The World Health Organization is seeing that the number of measles cases in Canada is rapidly rising. They believe that there's cause for concern. The current measles outbreak in Europe is even being called a tragedy. Even though the vaccine has been available for more than 40 years, somehow the disease has not yet been fully eradicated.