At no other time in human history has modern medical science been at a more successful point than it is now.
Through centuries of medical updates, we’ve eradicated smallpox – one of humanity’s greatest achievements – and significantly reduced the threat of polio, measles, rinderpest and a slew of other medical ailments that have claimed the lives of millions of people.
Those diseases, which have vaccines available, impacted entire communities, countries and continents, at times, left devastation in their wake.
Influenzas, plagues, pandemics and epidemics such as 1918-20 Spanish Flu, Bubonic plague from 541-549, Black Death from 1346-53 and Mexican smallpox in 1519-20 combined left more than a minimum of 100 million dead and potentially more than three times that.
While many historic outbreaks took place centuries ago, the 20th Century had countless medical impacts via the Hong Kong flu in the late 1960s, Russian typhus epidemic shortly after the First World War, the 1957-58 pandemic and most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic.
In recent days, weeks and months, measles – a highly preventable disease with free vaccinations readily available – has returned in large numbers.
In multiple Canadian provinces, health alerts have been issued as measle cases have increased, threatening people via small and large outbreaks.
Ontario, for example, has had just under 1,000 confirmed and probable cases this year. In Alberta, the province has hit slightly fewer than 100.
The number of confirmed cases is the largest in Canada since measles was declared eradicated more than 25 years ago.
The return of a large number of measles cases, albeit a small percentage of the overall population in Canada, is troubling at best and horrifying at worst.
In the United States, for example, thousands of measles cases among unvaccinated people have been increasing this year, including the death of two unvaccinated children in Texas. The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention has stated 97 per cent of American measle cases are from people who are unvaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status.
It’s also not uncommon for people who have measles and recover from it to develop neurological conditions years after being struck by the disease.
Banff and Canmore had its first realistic threat come home when Alberta Health Services’ Calgary Zone announced in a health advisory that the two communities had people who were in the communities between April 6 and 11 that may have exposed residents and visitors to measles.
The health agency provided timeframes for the Friday and Sunday they were in the mountain communities, which despite it being shoulder season, could’ve led to contact with thousands of individuals.
With summer holidays fast approaching, the real risk of such a disease spread quicker than it has in several decades is a distinct possibility as people travel nationally and internationally.
Up until recent decades, it would’ve been common for people to know someone with polio. The invention of the polio vaccine was a triumph of modern medical science that saved millions of lives.
The payoff was tens of millions of people vaccinated in the 1950s and 60s have an arm scar, but are spared what can be a deadly disease.
As we become better at preventing diseases, it can become a more distant thought in our minds, leading us to take advantage of what we have achieved and for some people to turn their back to medical success.
The majority of people across the world have first-hand knowledge of what can happen when a disease spreads out of control.
Though the COVID-19 pandemic showed some have a hesitancy or fear of vaccines, it’s vital for all residents to trust modern medical science and understand it can help the greater population.
