It’s not just the measles, but whooping cough cases are also on the rise in the province.

Two cases so far this year, both on Vancouver Island, and health officials are blaming a drop in vaccination rates.

Dr. Monika Naus at the BC Centre of DC says unlike measles, whooping cough isn’t considered ‘eliminated’ in Canada.

“The vaccine against whooping cough is a good one but it’s not as good as the measles vaccine and so, whooping cough occurs on a regular basis in this province and outbreaks occur on about three to five year cycles,” she said.

Naus says in 2017, the province saw fewer than 13 confirmed cases per 100,000 people in 2017.

The highest rates were in the Kootenay Boundary, South Vancouver Island and the Okanagan.

As for the measles, it’s the third outbreak of note this decade, after 2010 and 2014.

Naus added it’s important to remember that measles doesn’t occur naturally in Canada anymore.

“That doesn’t mean that cases can’t be imported from out of country,” she said. “Often times in Canadians who are under vaccinated, sometimes unvaccinated, they may transmit it.”

“So if they go into an unvaccinated household or an under-vaccinated school or an unvaccinated community, we can have a small or a large transmission of measles.”

That said, Dr. Naus says the current outbreak appears to be “tailing off.”