Measles & Rubella Weekly Monitoring Report - Week 26, 2017: June 25 to July 1, 2017

Key Points

  • In Canada, no new cases of measles were reported in week 26, 2017.
  • There are currently no active cases in Canada.
  • A total of 43 cases of measles, and zero cases of rubella have been reported in Canada in 2017.

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Epidemiological summary:

During epidemiological week 26 2017 no new case of measles was reported in CanadaFootnote 1. The most recent case was reported by Quebec in week 23 and is not related to the recent multi-jurisdictional measles outbreak.

To date in 2017, 43 cases of measles have been reported in Canada. Two outbreaks have been confirmed – one that began in February and has since concluded and the other began in March and involved five provinces.

No cases of rubella have been reported in 2017 (Figure 1). It has been 71 epidemiologic weeks since the last rubella case was reported (week 6, 2016).

Number of cases of measles (n=43) and rubella (n=0), by week of rash onset, as reported to the Canadian Measles/ Rubella Surveillance System (CMRSS) and Measles and Rubella Surveillance system (MARS), for the period ending July 1, 2017.

Geographic distribution

There are no currently active* cases of measles reported in Canada (Figure 2).

There are no reported active cases of rubella in Canada (Figure not shown).

Maps from previous weeks, including any retrospective updates, are available online in the Measles and rubella weekly surveillance maps feature.

Figure 2: Distribution of active*, confirmed measles cases by health region

*Active cases or outbreaks are those in which the onset date of the most recent case/outbreak-associated case falls within 32 days of the issue date of this reportFootnote 2.

Laboratory summary

Measles

To date in 2017, 35 measles cases have been genotyped and the genotypes are B3 (n=6) and D8 (n=29) (Figure 3).

During epidemiological week 26, 2017, there were no new measles genotype results

Figure 3: Distribution of measles genotypes detected in 2017 (n=35) by week of rash onset.

Epidemiological weeks for laboratory specimens are assigned in accordance with WHO guidelines (WHO.WER.2012;9(87):73) with week 1 beginning on the first Monday of the year.

The current global distribution of measles genotypes can be found on the WHO Measles Surveillance website.

For information regarding the interpretation and use of measles genotyping (including a discussion of genotypes and sequence variants), refer to Hiebert J and Severini A. Canada Communicable Disease Report. 2014; 40-12: 257- 260.

Rubella:

To date in 2017, no rubella cases have been genotyped.

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2017-07-13