【新闻麻辣烫】
"加拿大意外夺得'北美麻疹冠军'头衔！四个月大的宝宝去医院溜达一圈，竟带回了'复古病毒大礼包'——78岁奶奶一眼认出：这不是我们小时候的麻疹吗？数据显示，这个人口只有美国十分之一的国家，麻疹病例却是邻居的三倍，成功跻身全球爆发榜前十。专家挠头：我们明明没有'反疫苗网红'啊，这锅该谁背？"
---
**How Canada became the centre of a measles outbreak in North America**
**加拿大如何成为北美麻疹疫情中心**
Morgan Birch was puzzled when her four-month-old daughter, Kimie, suddenly fell ill with a fever and rash.
当四个月大的女儿基米突然发烧出疹时，摩根·伯奇感到困惑。
At first, the Alberta mother assumed it was a common side effect of immunisations - or perhaps a case of chicken pox.
这位阿尔伯塔省的妈妈起初以为是疫苗常见反应，或是水痘。
Ms Birch then consulted her 78-year-old grandmother, who recognised Kimie's illness immediately."That's measles," her grandmother said.
伯奇咨询78岁的祖母后，老人立即认出："这是麻疹。"
Ms Birch was stunned, as she thought the disease had been eradicated.
伯奇震惊不已，她以为这种疾病早已绝迹。
A lab test later confirmed her grandmother's hypothesis: Kimie had measles, likely contracted after a routine visit to the hospital in the Edmonton area a few weeks earlier.
实验室检测证实了祖母的判断：基米感染了麻疹，很可能源于几周前在埃德蒙顿地区医院的常规就诊。
---
**Kimie is one of more than 3,800 in Canada who have been infected with measles in 2025, most of them children and infants.**
**基米是加拿大2025年3800多例麻疹感染者之一，其中多为儿童和婴儿。**
That figure is nearly three times higher than the number of confirmed US cases, despite Canada's far smaller population.
尽管人口远少于美国，加拿大的病例数却是邻国的近三倍。
Now Canada is the only western country listed among the top 10 with measles outbreaks, according to CDC data, ranking at number eight.
美国疾控中心数据显示，加拿大是目前唯一进入麻疹爆发前十的西方国家，位列第八。
Alberta, the province at the epicentre of the current outbreak, has the highest per capita measles spread rate in North America.
疫情震中阿尔伯塔省的人均麻疹传播率冠绝北美。
---
**The data raises questions on why the virus is spreading more rapidly in Canada than in the US, and whether Canadian health authorities are doing enough to contain it.**
**数据引发疑问：为何病毒在加拿大传播更快？卫生部门防控是否到位？**
In the US, the rise of measles has been partly linked to vaccine-hesitant public figures, like Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr - although he has since endorsed the measles vaccine as safe.
美国麻疹抬头部分归因于卫生部长小罗伯特·肯尼迪等公众人物对疫苗的质疑（尽管他后来改口称麻疹疫苗安全）。
But Canada does not have a prominent RFK Jr-like figure in public health, noted Maxwell Smith, a professor of public health at Western University in southern Ontario.
但西安大略大学公共卫生教授马克斯韦尔·史密斯指出，加拿大没有类似的反疫苗意见领袖。
"There are other things that need to be interrogated here I think," Dr Smith said."Looking at the Canadian context adds another layer of complexity to this."
"这里还有其他因素需要探究，"史密斯博士说，"加拿大国情让问题更复杂。"
---
**Measles overall is on the rise in North America, Europe and the UK.**
**麻疹疫情在整个北美、欧洲和英国呈上升趋势。**
Cases in the US reached a 33-year high this year, while England reported nearly 3,000 confirmed infections in 2024, its highest count since 2012.
美国今年病例创33年新高，英格兰2024年报告近3000例确诊，为2012年以来最高。
Canada's 2025 figures have surpassed both.
加拿大2025年的数据已超越两者。
The country has not seen this many measles cases since the illness was declared eliminated in 1998.
这是自1998年宣布消除麻疹以来，加拿大遭遇的最严重疫情。
Before this year, the last peak was in 2011, when about 750 cases were reported.
今年之前的最高纪录是2011年的约750例。
---
**The MMR vaccine is the most effective way to fight off measles, a highly contagious and dangerous virus, which can lead to pneumonia, brain swelling and death.**
**MMR疫苗是预防麻疹最有效手段。这种高传染性病毒可导致肺炎、脑肿胀甚至死亡。**
The jabs are 97% effective and also immunise against mumps and rubella.
该疫苗有效性达97%，还能预防腮腺炎和风疹。
---
**How measles spread in Canada**
**麻疹在加拿大的传播路径**
The hardest-hit provinces have been Ontario and Alberta, followed by Manitoba.
重灾区是安大略省和阿尔伯塔省，其次为马尼托巴省。
In Ontario, health authorities say the outbreak began in late 2024, when an individual contracted measles at a large Mennonite gathering in New Brunswick and then returned home.
安大略卫生部门表示，疫情始于2024年底，某人在新不伦瑞克省门诺派大型集会感染后返乡传播。
Mennonites are a Christian group with roots in 16th-Century Germany and Holland, who have since settled in other parts of the world, including Canada, Mexico and the US.
门诺派是源于16世纪德国和荷兰的基督教团体，后迁徙至加拿大、墨西哥和美国等地。
Some live modern lifestyles, while conservative groups lead simpler lives, limiting the use of technology and relying on modern medicine only when necessary.
部分人过着现代生活，但保守派坚持简朴生活方式，限制科技使用，仅在必要时依赖现代医学。
---
**In Ontario, the illness primarily spread among Low German-speaking Mennonite communities in the province's southwest, where vaccination rates have historically been lower due to some members' religious or cultural beliefs against immunisation.**
**在安大略省，疫情主要在该省西南部的低地德语门诺派社区传播，由于部分成员反对接种的宗教文化信仰，这些地区疫苗接种率历来较低。**
Almost all those infected were unvaccinated, according to data from Public Health Ontario.
安大略公共卫生数据显示，感染者几乎都未接种疫苗。
Catalina Friesen, a healthcare worker at a mobile clinic serving the Mennonite population near Aylmer, Ontario, said she first became aware of the outbreak in February, when a woman and her five-year-old child came in with what appeared to be an ear infection.
为艾尔默附近门诺社区服务的移动诊所医护人员卡特琳娜·弗里森表示，她2月首次注意到疫情，当时一名妇女带着五岁孩子前来，症状看似耳部感染。
It later turned out to be a symptom of measles.
后来证实是麻疹症状。
"This is the first time I've ever seen measles within our community," Ms Friesen told the BBC.
"这是我第一次在社区见到麻疹，"弗里森告诉BBC。
---
**Cases spread rapidly from that point, reaching a peak of more than 200 a week across Ontario by late April.**
**疫情从此快速扩散，到4月底安大略省每周新增病例超200例。**
While new confirmed cases have since dropped sharply in Ontario, Alberta has emerged as the next hotspot.
虽然安大略省新增病例已大幅下降，但阿尔伯塔省成为新热点。
There, the spread happened so quickly that health officials were unable to pinpoint exactly how or where the outbreak began, said Dr Vivien Suttorp, the medical officer of health in southern Alberta, where cases are the highest.
阿尔伯塔省南部卫生医疗官薇薇安·苏托普博士表示，当地传播速度太快，官员无法确定疫情起源。
She, too, said she had not seen an outbreak this bad in her 18 years working in public health.
她18年的公共卫生职业生涯中，从未见过如此严重的疫情。
---
**Ms Friesen noted that Canada has a higher concentration of conservative Low German-speaking Mennonites than the US, which may be a factor behind the higher number of cases.**
**弗里森指出，加拿大保守派低地德语门诺派人口密度高于美国，这可能是病例更多的原因之一。**
But Mennonites are not a monolith, she said, and many have embraced vaccinations.
但她表示门诺派并非铁板一块，许多人已接受疫苗接种。
What's changed is the rapid spread of anti-vaccine misinformation both in her community and beyond after the Covid-19 pandemic.
变化在于新冠疫情后，反疫苗错误信息在社区内外的快速传播。
"There's hearsay that immunisations are bad for you," Ms Friesen said, or are"dangerous".
"有传言称疫苗有害"或"危险"，弗里森说。
This is amplified by a general distrust in the healthcare system, which she said has historically ostracised members of her community.
对医疗系统的不信任加剧了这种情况，她表示该系统历来排斥其社区成员。
"We are sometimes put down or looked down upon because of our background," she said, adding that she herself has experienced discrimination in hospitals based on assumptions about her beliefs.
"我们常因背景遭轻视，"她说，并补充自己曾在医院因信仰预设遭遇歧视。
---
**Vaccine hesitancy on the rise**
**疫苗犹豫情绪抬头**
Experts say it's tough to pinpoint why measles have spread wider in Canada than in the US, but many agree that cases in both countries are likely underreported.
专家表示很难确定麻疹在加拿大传播更广的原因，但许多人认为两国病例都可能被低估。
"The numbers that we have in Alberta are just the tip of the iceberg," said Dr Suttorp.
"阿尔伯塔的数据只是冰山一角，"苏托普博士说。
But there is one big reason driving the outbreak: low vaccination rates, said Janna Shapiro, a University of Toronto's Centre for Vaccine Preventable Diseases postdoctoral fellow.
但多伦多大学疫苗可预防疾病中心博士后詹娜·夏皮罗指出，爆发主因是低接种率。
Dr Shapiro said there is"an element of chance" at play, where a virus is introduced to a community by accident and spreads among those who are unprotected.
夏皮罗博士称存在"偶然因素"：病毒意外传入社区，在未受保护人群中传播。
"The only thing that is going to stop an outbreak is getting those vaccination rates up," she said."If the public is not willing to get vaccinated, then it will continue until the virus can't find anymore receptible hosts."
"提高接种率是阻止疫情的唯一方法，"她说，"如果公众不愿接种，疫情将持续直到病毒找不到易感宿主。"
---
**In general, studies show that vaccine hesitancy has risen in Canada since the pandemic, and the data reflects that.**
**总体而言，研究显示加拿大自疫情以来疫苗犹豫情绪上升，数据也反映了这一点。**
In southern Alberta, for example, the number of MMR vaccines administered has dropped by nearly half from 2019 to 2024, according to provincial figures.
例如省级数据显示，阿尔伯塔省南部MMR疫苗接种量2019至2024年下降近半。
Covid-19 vaccine mandates were fiercely opposed by some during the pandemic, prompting the so-called"Freedom Convoy" protest in Ottawa where truckers gridlocked the city for two weeks in 2021.
新冠疫苗强制令曾遭激烈反对，引发2021年渥太华"自由车队"抗议，卡车司机让城市瘫痪两周。
