Rebecca Archer gently places her daughter Renae’s tiny glasses on a shelf of memories—symbols of a life cut short by a measles complication. Renae was just five months old during a 2013 outbreak in Manchester, England, too young to be vaccinated. Though she recovered initially, the dormant virus later triggered subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE), a fatal brain condition. Seizures followed, then loss of speech, eating ability, and eventually, consciousness.
As measles cases surge in Canada, with childhood vaccination rates falling post-pandemic, Archer urges families to vaccinate. SSPE occurs in about one in 100,000 measles cases, but for infants under 15 months, the risk jumps to one in 609.
Physicians like Dr. Michelle Barton, who leads pediatric infectious diseases at London’s Children’s Hospital, warn that complications like SSPE may become more common as the virus spreads across provinces. Ontario leads with 1,453 cases in 2025, mostly among the unvaccinated.
Experts, including Dr. Upton Allen of Toronto’s SickKids, note complications like pneumonia and encephalitis threaten even healthy children. Those with weaker immune systems are at much greater risk and depend on community immunity for protection.
Seventy-three-year-old Barbara Leonhard of Columbia, Mo., remembers the lifelong toll of measles encephalitis from the pre-vaccine era. After falling into a coma at six, she defied predictions and taught herself to walk again—but continues to suffer from muscle weakness today.
Both Archer and Leonhard are calling on parents to vaccinate, to protect not only their own children but those around them. With herd immunity requiring 95% coverage, Archer believes Renae might still be alive had more people been vaccinated.
Source: Swifteradio.com
