Testing shows there is no link between four recent measles cases in Toronto and a large outbreak linked to the Disneyland theme parks in California.
Toronto Public Health says testing of the viruses from four of the city’s six cases shows they are from a strain called D4.
The Disneyland outbreak, which has sparked at least 114 cases in at least seven U.S. states, is caused by viruses from the B3 strain.
Dr. Vinita Dubey says test results are still pending on the virus type for the two most recent measles cases in Toronto; the city has seen six cases so far.
Dubey, who is an associate medical officer of health, says the D4 strain of measles circulates in a number of different parts of the world.
She says Toronto Public Health’s current hypothesis is that someone brought this measles strain to Toronto and these four cases are all part of a chain of transmission from that person.
To date authorities have not been able to find any links among the six people — two toddlers and four adults. None of the six recently travelled outside the country.
Last week officials in the Niagara area announced a woman in that region who had never been vaccinated had been hospitalized with measles. She had recently travelled to Toronto on two separate occasions and is thought to have contracted the virus during one of those trips.
