A week after Ottawa Public Health confirmed the city’s first measles cases in six years, an infectious disease specialist is warning Ottawa residents to expect more travel-related cases.
“I think people should be prepared for potentially further cases to occur in Ottawa. With so much international travel, it wouldn’t be surprising to see further cases that have been acquired internationally or in other parts of Canada,” said Dr. Eric Eckbo, a medical consultant on The Ottawa Hospital’s infection prevention and control team.
Last week, OPH confirmed cases in an adult and child who became infected while travelling internationally. There have been no reports of any new cases in Ottawa since then and the risk to the public is considered low.
But, amid a large and growing outbreak in Ontario, health officials remain on high alert for more cases of measles and pressure is growing on the provincial government to do more to prevent the spread of the highly contagious illness.
On Thursday, Public Health Ontario reported 197 new cases in the past week alone related to a large outbreak traced to a gathering in New Brunswick last fall. Since October, there have been a total of 1,440 Ontario cases related to that outbreak, largely among infants, children and youth who were not vaccinated.
The bulk of the cases have been centred in parts of southwestern Ontario that are now considered high risk for travel by public health officials. The outbreak began in a Mennonite gathering.
The Ottawa cases are not connected to the Ontario outbreak, but rather are among 12 cases in the province since the beginning of 2025 linked to travel as opposed to domestic spread. An additional 37 Ontario cases had no known source of exposure.
The large and ongoing outbreak of a vaccine preventable illness has been the focus of opposition parties at Queen’s Park this week.
NDP leader Marit Stiles called on the provincial government to take action to get the outbreak under control, saying she was shocked to hear both Premier Doug Ford and Health Minister Sylvia Jones defend their records on the issue as cases continued to climb by the hundreds every week.
“In the face of the worst outbreak in decades, the government’s approach is clearly not working,” Stiles said. “We need real leadership and a serious plan to protect people.”
Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Kieran Moore, has said in interviews that the province will likely continue to see the spread of measles until summer.
Ottawa Public Health officials have said they are confident vaccination levels are relatively high in Ottawa, which will help prevent community spread. Routine vaccine coverage has dropped across Ontario for a number of reasons, including the COVID-19 pandemic, a shortage of primary caregivers and the growth of vaccine hesitancy.
TOH infectious disease specialist Eckbo said the continued spread of measles in Canada and around the world meant people would continue to be vulnerable when attending high-risk areas.
He encouraged people to ensure they have had two doses of measles vaccine or have immunity from previous infection and, if not, to contact their family doctors to get second doses.
“We know that it is very safe, effective and offers strong and enduring protection,” Eckbo said.
He said that was especially true of people planning to travel outside Canada or to regions of the country — such as parts of southwestern Ontario — now considered high-risk.
Ekbo noted that most people with measles did not need to go to hospitals. Those who do need to seek medical attention should either call ahead or wear masks and let officials know immediately they could be at risk for measles.
He said it was difficult as an infectious disease specialist to see a comeback of measles.
“I do feel frustration that we are seeing this number of cases when we know that the measles vaccine is very safe and very effective,” he said.
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