Image courtesy Government of Alberta/Measles - Data and statistics
newsdesk@medicinehatnews.com
Measles cases are beginning to climb again in Alberta after a quiet winter.
According to the province’s measles dashboard, 162 cases have been reported so far in 2026, including 36 new cases reported over the weekend.
The South zone, which includes Medicine Hat, is posting the highest measles numbers early in 2026 after having more than half of all cases in 2025.
A total of 67 cases have been reported in the South zone since Jan. 1, including 28 new this week. Two of those cases are listed on the dashboard as active.
As of Feb. 28, 413 cases were reported across Canada. Alberta made up nearly a quarter of those cases. Manitoba, with 269 cases so far this year, represents well over half.
The Ministry of Primary and Preventative Services says this week’s jump in cases is not unexpected.
“While there has been an increase in cases over the past few days, most new cases reflect transmission within a small number of families and groups, not widespread community transmission, and primarily in communities with previously reported cases,” reads a statement to the News.
The South has been under a standing exposure advisory since May 2025 due to the large number of cases of no known origin in the region. Individuals living, working or travelling to the South zone have been advised to ensure immunizations are up to date.
The North zone and Parkland County are also under standing exposure advisories.
Ten cases are listed as active across the province, including four in Edmonton, where advisories were issued about exposure at two hospitals earlier this month. Four people were hospitalized across the province as of Mar. 10, with none in the ICU.
Two patients were admitted to the ICU with measles earlier this year.
Last year, there were 2,009 confirmed cases of measles in Alberta, with the majority in the South, where 1,015 people were afflicted with the highly contagious virus.
Cases were primarily identified between the months of May and August.
A total of 164 people were hospitalized, and one death was attributed to measles.
Unvaccinated people made up 80.8 per cent of confirmed cases last year. So far, 100 of the 108 confirmed cases in 2026 have been unvaccinated, and six have affected people with an unknown immunization status.
A graph on the provincial measles dashboard shows immunization rates increased notably during last summer’s outbreak in the South, where historic immunization rates have been low.
The Ministry of Primary and Preventative Health Services says the number of vaccines administered between Mar. 16, 2025 and Mar. 7, 2026 grew 36 per cent province-wide compared to the same period last year.
In the South, vaccinations jumped by 54 per cent.
According to the province’s childhood immunization dashboard, only 67.8 per cent of Alberta children had received the first dose of the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine by age two, as of the most recent data in 2024.
While 83.4 per cent of children in Medicine Hat met that benchmark, only 37.4 per cent in nearby Taber had received that vaccine.
