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5,100 cases, baby died. 27 years later, Canada loses its status. In Portugal, “dad fashion” also makes a difference.
O Canada lost country status measles free after registering approx. 5,100 cases in the last year. PAHO declared Canada measles-free in 1998.
The Public Health Agency of Canada (ASPC) said in a press release that the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) confirmed the “sustained transmission of the same measles virus strain” in the country for more than a year.
The North American country, once considered a model for vaccination campaigns, has faced a small but persistent problem since the beginning of the pandemic. anti-vaccine movement.
In early 2025, Canada suffered its first death by measles in recent decades, that of a premature baby.
Cases have been increasing in the provinces of Alberta e Ontario, both governed by parties conservatives, and between religious communities.
These two provinces were responsible for 84% of all measles cases in the country this year.
According to data from the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), coverage of the first dose of vaccine MMR (measles, mumps and rubella – VASPR) went down from 90% in 2019 to 83% in 2023.
Second dose coverage fell from 86% to 76% during the same period.
The ASPC stated that it is “collaborating with PAHO” and other organizations “to implement coordinated actions focused on improving vaccination coverage, strengthening data sharing, optimizing general surveillance efforts and providing guidance based on scientific evidence”.
Canadian health authorities added that Canada could once again be considered a measles-free country once transmission of the strain associated with the current outbreak has been interrupted for at least 12 months.
In Portugal
Measles was considered disease eliminated in Portugal – more than once – both by the Directorate-General for Health and the World Health Organization.
Mass Europa also had a “alarming” increase of measles cases in 2023, according to the World Health Organization.
In this sense, the General Directorate of Health reiterated its appeal for the vaccination, remembering that “measles is one of the most contagious infectious diseases, which can cause serious illness in unvaccinated people”.
But measles returned to Portugal – in an imported case – because “now the parents do not vaccinate the children and this is what happens”, commented a health professional with ZAP, at the time.
The – universal, free and accessible to everyone in Portugal – includes a vaccine against measles, epidemic mumps and rubella, as soon as the baby turns 1 year old. But many parents refuse to adhere to early vaccination.
The measles virus is transmitted by direct contact, through infectious droplets or by airborne spread, when the infected person coughs or sneezes, and patients are considered contagious from four days before to four days after the appearance of the rash.
Symptoms of the disease generally appear between 10 and 12 days after the person is infected and usually begin with fever, rash (which advances from the head to the trunk and lower extremities), cough, conjunctivitis and runny nose.
