Measles

In Estrie, nearly 25% of children under 2 years of age are not adequately protected against measles.

Signs and Symptoms

Measles is a potentially serious respiratory viral infection in children. People with the disease usually have:

• A high fever
• Eye redness 
• Flu-like symptoms (cough and runny nose)
• A characteristic reddish skin rash on the face, torso, and limbs that may appear a few days after the onset of symptoms. 

Complications

Complications of measles can be common and include: 

• Ear infection
• Pneumonia
• Hospitalization
• Damage to the brain causing significant developmental delays
• Death

If you have symptoms

Call 811 as soon as symptoms appear. You might be referred to your clinic to make an appointment with your family doctor. If you don't have a family doctor, call the Primary Care Access Point at 811 and select option 3. 

Inform the clinic of your symptoms before going there. The staff there will tell you what precautionary measures must be followed to avoid infecting others.

Treatment 

Since no treatment is yet available for measles, vaccination is the best protection against the disease. The regular vaccination schedule includes a first dose at 12 months of age and a second dose at 18 months of age. 

The recent decline in the proportion of adequately vaccinated young children opens the door to a major upsurge of measles in our region. In the event of an outbreak, unvaccinated children will need to be removed from the affected school or child-care setting.

Vaccinating children against measles is safe. The most common side effects are:

• Mild fever
• Drowsiness or irritability.

• Your child's vaccination record contains a table with each of the recommended vaccines according to age. The record is separated into sections for each disease for which vaccination is recommended. 
• Compare the vaccines listed in the different sections of the vaccination record with the number of doses listed in the vaccination schedule. If necessary, you can ask a health-care professional for help (pharmacist, 811, etc.). 
• If your child has not received the vaccinations recommended for their age, please refer to the "Where to get vaccinated" section.
• To obtain a copy of your vaccination record, click here.