Measles and Rubella Weekly Monitoring Report: Week 45 (November 3 - 9, 2024)

Date published: November 22, 2024

Key points

In Canada, 130 measles cases and 1 case of congenital rubella syndrome/infection have been reported in 2024.
30 new cases of measles were reported by 2 jurisdictions (New Brunswick and Ontario) in week 45.
Canadians travelling outside of Canada are encouraged to consult the travel health notices for information on measles and rubella outbreaks occurring in other countries.

Measles

Current measles situation

In week 45 (November 3-9), 30 new measles cases were reported by 2 jurisdictions (New Brunswick and Ontario).
To date in 2024, 130 measles cases have been reported by 6 jurisdictions (Alberta, British Columbia, New Brunswick, Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan).
1 measles death has been reported in Canada in 2024.

Figure 1. Text version below. — **Figure 1. Geographic distribution of measles cases by province and territory, 2024 (n=130)**

Province or territory	Number of cases
Alberta	1
British Columbia	1
Manitoba	0
New Brunswick	40
Newfoundland and Labrador	0
Northwest Territories	0
Nova Scotia	0
Nunavut	0
Ontario	34
Prince Edward Island	0
Quebec	53
Saskatchewan	1
Yukon	0

Table 1. Summary of measles cases, 2024
Region	New cases in Week 45	Total cases in 2024	Epidemiological week^{Footnote 1} of last rash onset
Canada	30	130	Week 45 (November 3-9)
New Brunswick	27	40	Week 45 (November 3-9)
Ontario	3	34	Week 45 (November 3-9)
Quebec	0	53	Week 28 (July 7-13)
Alberta	0	1	Week 17 (April 21-27)
British Columbia	0	1	Week 9 (February 25- March 2)
Saskatchewan	0	1	Week 2 (January 7-13)

Figure 2. Text version below. — **Figure 2. Epidemiological curve for measles cases, by epidemiological week^{Footnote 1} of rash onset^{Footnote 2} and exposure source^{Footnote 3}, 2024 (n=130)**

Epidemiological week^{Footnote 1} of rash onset	Cases exposed outside of Canada	Cases exposed in Canada, epidemiologically and/or virologically linked	Cases with unknown exposure
1	0	0	0
2	1	0	0
3	1	0	0
4	0	0	0
5	1	0	0
6	1	0	0
7	2	1	0
8	1	2	0
9	2	7	1
10	2	4	0
11	1	6	1
12	1	5	0
13	1	6	0
14	2	4	1
15	3	1	0
16	4	3	0
17	1	3	2
18	2	2	0
19	0	0	1
20	0	1	0
21	0	0	0
22	0	0	0
23	0	0	0
24	0	0	0
25	1	0	0
26	0	0	0
27	0	0	0
28	2	0	0
29	0	0	0
30	1	0	0
31	0	0	0
32	0	0	0
33	0	0	0
34	0	0	1
35	0	0	0
36	0	0	0
37	0	0	0
38	0	0	0
39	0	0	0
40	0	0	0
41	0	0	0
42	1	0	0
43	0	0	0
44	0	17	0
45	0	30	0

Table 2. Epidemiological summary of measles cases in Canada, 2024 (n=130)
Case characteristics	Count (%)
Total number of cases	130
Age group
<1 year	9 (7%)
1 – 4 years	21 (16%)
5 – 17 years	38 (29%)
18 – 54 years	60 (46%)
Born before 1970 (≥ 55 years)	2 (2%)
Sex
Females	57 (44%)
Males	73 (56%)
Other/unspecified	0 (0%)
Province or territory
Alberta	1 (1%)
British Columbia	1 (1%)
New Brunswick	40 (31%)
Ontario	34 (26%)
Quebec	53 (41%)
Saskatchewan	1 (1%)
Exposure source^{Footnote 3}
Exposed outside of Canada^{Footnote a}	31 (24%)
Exposed in Canada, epidemiologically and/or virologically linked	92 (71%)
Unknown exposure	7 (5%)
Vaccination status
Unvaccinated	84 (65%)
1 dose	11 (8%)
2 or more doses	12 (9%)
Unknown	23 (18%)
Hospitalizations	18 (14%)
Genotypes
B3	53 (41%)
D8	19 (15%)
Undetermined	53 (41%)
Pending	5 (4%)
Footnote a Countries of travel for cases exposed outside of Canada include: Azerbaijan, Belgium, Denmark, Egypt, France, India, Iraq, Italy, Kenya, Mauritania, Mexico, Morocco, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and Uzbekistan. Return to footnote a referrer

Historical measles cases

Measles has been eliminated in Canada since 1998, and therefore endemic transmission no longer takes place in the country. However, cases continue to occur sporadically, usually due to importation from regions where measles is circulating. Some imported cases result in time-limited outbreaks. From 1998 to 2023 there have been an average of 88 measles cases reported in Canada annually, with between 0 and 752 cases reported each year.

Figure 3. Text version below. — **Figure 3. Number of measles cases reported in Canada by year since measles elimination, 1998 – November 9, 2024^{Footnote 4}**

Year	Number of cases
1998	17
1999	32
2000	207
2001	38
2002	9
2003	17
2004	9
2005	8
2006	13
2007	101
2008	61
2009	14
2010	99
2011	752
2012	10
2013	83
2014	418
2015	196
2016	11
2017	45
2018	29
2019	113
2020	1
2021	0
2022	3
2023	12
2024	130

Rubella and congenital rubella syndrome/infection (CRS/CRI)

In Week 45, no new rubella or CRS/CRI cases were reported.
To date in 2024, 1 CRS/CRI case has been reported by Quebec in epidemiological week 8 (February 18-24, 2024).
No rubella cases have been reported in 2024. The last case of rubella was reported in September 2023.

Figure 4. Text version below. — **Figure 4. Geographic distribution of CRS/CRI cases by province and territory, 2024 (n=1)**

Province or territory	Number of cases
Alberta	0
British Columbia	0
Manitoba	0
New Brunswick	0
Newfoundland and Labrador	0
Northwest Territories	0
Nova Scotia	0
Nunavut	0
Ontario	0
Prince Edward Island	0
Quebec	1
Saskatchewan	0
Yukon	0

Data source

Canadian Measles and Rubella Surveillance System

Footnotes

Footnote 1

Table 3. Epidemiological week number and corresponding dates for 2024
Epidemiological week number	Week start date	Week end date
1	December 31, 2023	January 6, 2024
2	January 7, 2024	January 13, 2024
3	January 14, 2024	January 20, 2024
4	January 21, 2024	January 27, 2024
5	January 28, 2024	February 3, 2024
6	February 4, 2024	February 10, 2024
7	February 11, 2024	February 17, 2024
8	February 18, 2024	February 24, 2024
9	February 25, 2024	March 2, 2024
10	March 3, 2024	March 9, 2024
11	March 10, 2024	March 16, 2024
12	March 17, 2024	March 23, 2024
13	March 24, 2024	March 30, 2024
14	March 31, 2024	April 6, 2024
15	April 7, 2024	April 13, 2024
16	April 14, 2024	April 20, 2024
17	April 21, 2024	April 27, 2024
18	April 28, 2024	May 4, 2024
19	May 5, 2024	May 11, 2024
20	May 12, 2024	May 18, 2024
21	May 19, 2024	May 25, 2024
22	May 26, 2024	June 1, 2024
23	June 2, 2024	June 8, 2024
24	June 9, 2024	June 15, 2024
25	June 16, 2024	June 22, 2024
26	June 23, 2024	June 29, 2024
27	June 30, 2024	July 6, 2024
28	July 7, 2024	July 13, 2024
29	July 14, 2024	July 20, 2024
30	July 21, 2024	July 27, 2024
31	July 28, 2024	August 3, 2024
32	August 4, 2024	August 10, 2024
33	August 11, 2024	August 17, 2024
34	August 18, 2024	August 24, 2024
35	August 25, 2024	August 31, 2024
36	September 1, 2024	September 7, 2024
37	September 8, 2024	September 14, 2024
38	September 15, 2024	September 21, 2024
39	September 22, 2024	September 28, 2024
40	September 29, 2024	October 5, 2024
41	October 6, 2024	October 12, 2024
42	October 13, 2024	October 19, 2024
43	October 20, 2024	October 26, 2024
44	October 27, 2024	November 2, 2024
45	November 3, 2024	November 9, 2024
46	November 10, 2024	November 16, 2024
47	November 17, 2024	November 23, 2024
48	November 24, 2024	November 30, 2024
49	December 1, 2024	December 7, 2024
50	December 8, 2024	December 14, 2024
51	December 15, 2024	December 21, 2024
52	December 22, 2024	December 28, 2024

Return to footnote 1 referrer

Footnote 2

If a rash was not observed or rash onset date was unknown, the earliest of: symptom onset date, laboratory specimen collection date, public health investigation date, and date reported to PHAC was used.

Return to footnote 2 referrer

Footnote 3

Exposure source is categorized as 1) "Exposed outside of Canada" when the case had international travel history during their exposure period (7 to 21 days before rash onset); 2) "Exposed in Canada, epidemiologically/virologically linked" when the case is epidemiologically and/or virologically linked to a previous confirmed measles case or known measles exposure source; and 3) "Unknown exposure source" when the source of the case is unknown (case did not report international travel during their exposure period AND is not known to be linked to a previous measles case or known measles exposure source).

Return to footnote 3 referrer

Footnote 4

Case counts for 2024 are not for the full year and include only cases reported as of the current epidemiological week.

Return to footnote 4 referrer

Page details

Date modified:: 2024-11-22

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