County Health Services warn of measles outbreak in Montreal | Local

Families planning a trip to Montreal may want to check their immunization status first.

In Montreal, a measles outbreak has prompted warnings from county health departments.

Measles began spreading in June, said Andrea Whitmarsh, Esbad County Public Health Educator.

"We wanted to spread the word," she said.

Esbad was one of three counties in the north to send warnings to people traveling to Montreal.

She is not worried about those who choose not to receive the MMR vaccine. She thinks about babies.

"The problem is that you can not be vaccinated before the age of 12 months. In addition, immunocompromised people "can not be vaccinated," she said. "It's this pocket of very young children who are at risk."

But she urged everyone else to be vaccinated, if they are not, and to make sure they have received two MMR vaccines.

"I just got one," she added. "There is really no risk in having another one."

In Montreal, the Quebec Ministry of Health announced that a person who had contracted measles was in the feline tunnel of Safari Park, a popular tourist attraction.

The ministry warned that anyone in this tunnel on July 12 from 1:00 pm to 3:15 pm could have been exposed to measles.

Unvaccinated persons should be vaccinated within seven days of exposure.

The ministry has reported sites for each case of measles. They include public pools, buses, cafes and restaurants from 26 June.

"McDonald's, pharmacies, all kinds of places," said Whitmarsh.

She added that people should not panic and noted that there had been an outbreak in the Washington District since October 2018.

"You know, anybody can be exposed at any time," she said.

There is a simple solution.

"Make sure you are vaccinated and your children are vaccinated," she said.

A doctor raised fears of the MMR vaccine in 1998. Dr. Andrew Wakefield filed a patent application for a new measles protection product and then published in a scientific journal a study claiming that the MMR could lead to the development of a vaccine. ;autism. Later, the newspaper investigated the study and discovered that he had invented the results that he had reported. The newspaper is retracted and studies on thousands of children have revealed no connection between autism and vaccinations. But the harm was done and many parents continue to refuse vaccines, especially the MMR vaccine, to their children.