What is the risk of catching measles during summer travel? Here’s what experts say – CTV
July 10, 2025
As more Canadians travel during the summer amid rising cases of measles both domestically and throughout the world, one infectious disease expert says the risk of it spreading is “very high.”
“The problem is people are unvaccinated and the more that we travel, the more we spread it around,” Stacey Smith?, whose expertise includes the mathematical modelling of infectious diseases at the University of Ottawa, said in a video interview with CTVNews.ca on Wednesday.
Smith?, who uses a question mark as part of her name to differentiate from others with a similar name, called rising measles cases “a powder keg waiting to happen.”
“So the only reason we’re not living in a massive measles pandemic is because we’ve had very successful vaccine programs for many, many decades now,” Smith? said.
According to the University of British Columbia’s faculty of medicine, measles is up to six times more infectious than COVID-19.
