Measles Confirmed in Canada - Guelph & Toronto, Ontario area. 23 cases to date.

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Guelph, Ontario - 12 confirmed cases to date.

Peel Region, Ontario - 1 confirmed cases to date.
Toronto, Ontario - 10 confirmed cases to date. 

UPDATE - 5.22.2008 Measles outbreak now linked to North York General Hospital.

 A person contagious with measles, who may have accidentally exposed others to the disease at North York General Hospital, is the latest case in Toronto's ongoing outbreak of the illness. Hospital officials are working with Toronto Public Health to contact people known to have come in contact with the infected individual. 

But as a precaution, the health department is also asking the following people who visited certain areas of the hospital on May 13, 16 and 17 to call 416-338-7600 for an assessment: pregnant women, those with a weakened immune system, parents with children under the age of one, health care workers who aren't employees of the hospital and anyone who works with children. 

The key times and departments are the yellow zone of the emergency department on May 13 from 7 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., the ultra sound room and waiting area on May 13 from 2 to 5 p.m., the main cafeteria on May 13 from noon to 3:30 p.m. and the emergency room and triage area on May 16 from 9:30 p.m. onwards and on May 15 at 5 p.m. via: insidertoronto.com

UPDATE - 5.21.2008 A Brampton elementary school facing a measles outbreak has banned 130 students and six teachers until they can prove they have been immunized or have had the disease. A student at James Potter Public School came to class two weeks ago with a fever, rash and cough. via: torontosun.com

UPDATE - 5.20.2008 Measles force "100" students to stay home. More than 100 Brampton elementary school students have been told to stay home today after being exposed to the measles. Local public health officials reported that staff and students came into contact with a visitor to the school on May 5 and showed symptoms of the virus soon after. The public school, located on Creditview Road in Brampton, remains open today to students and staff able to prove they've been immunized against measles. via: caledonenterprise.com

UPDATE - 5.12.2008 "Brampton, ON," (via CNW) - 1 new case, Peel Public Health reports its the 1st case of measles. The case has been linked the recent cluster of measles in downtown Toronto.

UPDATE - 5.09.2008 "Toronto's Financial District" Toronto Public Health authorities are warning of a measles outbreak Toronto's Financial District.  4 new cases (see below) have been reported in the downtown core, including at least two connected to the Scotia and TD Waterhouse towers. via: National Post.com

UPDATE - 5.09.2008 "Grey-Bruce area residents" It's possible some residents in the Grey-Bruce area have been exposed to measles. The Grey-Bruce Health Unit is "WARNING" the public of the situation.
Our Medical Officer of Health, Doctor Hazel Lynn, says a Toronto woman - known to be contagious with measles - took a bus from Kincardine to Toronto. Doctor Lynn says they'd like to know if anyone was on the bus, which left Kincardine on Tuesday, April 29th around 7:15 in the morning and we have a high immunization rate in Grey-Bruce area. Lynn says if symptoms don't show up by about May 19th - everyone should be in the clear. Via: Bayshore Broadcasting Corp.

UPDATE - 5.08.2008

Regarding Guelph cases: About seven of the twelve cases, where not immunized while a few other cases where under-immunized, meaning only received one of the two shot MMR vaccination  (which prevents the disease). Measles began spreading in Guelph last month after a local man caught the disease in Toronto and returned home.

Source re: Guelph via Guelph Murcury.com

Regarding Toronto cases: 4 new case (confirmed) reported 5.08.2008 Everyone affected by this newest outbreak of measles lives or works downtown.

Source re: Toronto via CityNews.ca & 680News

Symptoms:
Measles or Rubeola (rubella) is a highly contagious disease (spreads easily) through coughing and/or sneezing, along with close contact. Symptoms can include a high fever, coughing, sneezing, runny nose and rash. While the rash is the most visible of symptoms it is also one of the last and most noticed, the coughing and sneezing along with fever, these are the first signs that something is wrong. The fever is progressive or rises each day, and then the rash (blotchy) will appear around the face (head and upper body) and spreading to other parts of the body. It is also important to know that people with measles are infectious (can spread the disease) from 4 days before to 4 days after the rash appears. Thus, an infected person can spread the disease before knowing he or she is infected. Which why its important to be attentive of the fever, coughing and sneezing.

What to do - if you believe you have measles:
Persons with possible measles should wear a mask covering the nose and mouth, avoid public places, minimize contact with others, and notify their health care provider in advance to avoid patient waiting rooms. "Please do not just show up at a hospital, doctors office or medical facility without notify them first".

Why it's so important to be aware of measles:
CDC stated about how contagious measles was, "The thing about measles is that it's extremely contagious and that, if you put the measles virus in a room with unimmunized people, they would essentially all come down with measles. It's extremely, extremely contagious. 
It also persists in the environment for a couple of hours after the person has been there. And so we've even seen – in the older days, we saw times where, in the doctor's office, if the environment wasn't carefully cleaned up, somebody could get measles without ever having been in the office at the same time as the person – the first child."

How to prevent measles from spreading:
Get Vaccinated (Immunizes). Check with local and state health department for locations within your area for clinics and also possible free immunization site that are on going or being set up.