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April 5, 2002

INTERNATIONAL IMMUNIZATION NEWS

"Measles on Rise in Rural Alberta"

Calgary Herald (www.calgaryherald.com) (04/05/02) P. A8; Heyman, David

The rate of measles infections in rural southern Alberta has more than tripled the national average, according to a new report in the Canadian Journal of Public Health, because of strict religious beliefs and a new aversion to immunizations among the people in the region.  The clusters of communed people include descendants from certain Dutch churches and those who believe in alternative health remedies.  Seventeen of the 28 Canadian measles cases identified in the 1999-2000 international outbreak were among people living in southern Alberta, the article said. The overall average rate of measles in Canada and the United States is 6.5 per 100,000 people; yet in the Chinook Health Region, which includes Lethbridge and surrounding areas, the rate is 20 cases per 100,000.  The core religious objection to immunization, some parents indicated, is that it challenged the will of God--if a child falls ill from a disease it is His will, but if the child becomes permanently disabled from a vaccine, then it is the parents' fault.  Dr. Paul Hasselback, the region's medical officer of health, notes that immunization coverage in the area has been declining for years, with rates recently dropping below 90 percent in the Chinook Health Region, compared to 95 percent in some other regional health authorities in Alberta and the national target of 98 percent coverage.

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