Six babies with unvaccinated mothers born with measles in Canada
Source: The Guardian
Six babies with unvaccinated mothers born with measles in Canada
Ontario’s chief medical officer of health says infections could have been prevented through routine vaccination
Leyland Cecco in Toronto
Mon 9 Jun 2025 16.20 BST
Last modified on Tue 10 Jun 2025 02.30 BST
Six babies with unvaccinated mothers have been born with congenital measles in the Canadian province of Ontario since the start of the largest outbreak of the disease in the western hemisphere late last year.
Ontario’s chief medical officer of health, Kieran Moore, said the infants, who were infected with measles in the womb, had all recovered. He said the infections could have been prevented through routine vaccination.
Congenital measles, which refers to cases in which a child is born already infected with the highly contagious disease, can produce inflammation of the brain and in some cases, death.
Canada achieved “elimination status” for measles in 1998, meaning the virus is no longer circulating regularly. But the scale of the outbreak in Ontario could overturn that achievement.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/09/canada-measles-outbreak-infants