Measures outbreak reported in northern Alberta community of John D'Or Prairie

Dennis Kovtun · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 11, 2025 7:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

A tiny First Nations assemblage successful bluish Alberta is reporting a measles outbreak.

The outbreak was reported successful John D'Or Prairie, 1 of the 3 communities that marque up the Little Red River Cree Nation. 

The outbreak could see the first cases of measles successful Alberta this year, according to the latest data.   

As of Monday evening, three radical successful the aforesaid household were confirmed to person contracted the virus, according to Little Red River Cree Nation Chief Conroy Sewepagaham. 

Two of those who caught the microorganism were hospitalized but are now backmost location and recovering successful isolation, Sewepagaham said. It's believed that they contracted the microorganism extracurricular the assemblage of astir 700 people, located 750 kilometres northbound of Edmonton. 

The federation became alert of the outbreak connected Sunday. 

According to the connection posted connected the nation's Facebook leafage interaction tracing is underway and the nation "is moving intimately with wellness authorities to incorporate the dispersed of the microorganism and guarantee everyone's safety." 

"We won't truly afloat cognize the grade of the dispersed of this microorganism until the interaction tracing is done," Sewepagaham told CBC.

Sewepagaham said interaction tracing could instrumentality a portion owed to the measles incubation period, which is astir 10 days.

The federation is organizing a vaccination thrust successful John D'or Prairie, Sewepagaham said, and is mounting up an exigency vaccination tract astatine a gymnasium astatine a school.

Certain property groups successful the assemblage are beneath the mean nationalist vaccination complaint successful Canada, he said. 

"It's nary responsibility of their own, conscionable due to the fact that the past mates of years we've been inundated with fires, floods and everything other underneath the prima and moon. So we're trying to drawback up arsenic overmuch arsenic we can," Sewepagaham said. 

The Public Health Agency of Canada did not person circumstantial details connected the John D'or Prairie outbreak and referred CBC News to Alberta Health Services. AHS stated that the assemblage falls nether the jurisdiction of Indigenous Services Canada, the bureau which oversees wellness matters for the nation. Indigenous Services Canada did not supply remark to the CBC connected Monday.