Baby Kimie was just four months old when she spiked a dangerously high fever this spring.
Neither her mother, health nurses nor even her pediatrician initially suspected a long-forgotten disease was causing it — even after a tell-tale rash appeared.
“Her whole stomach and back was full of red dots,” recalled Kimie’s mother Morgan Birch.
“My grandmother actually, when I showed her, right away was like, ‘That looks like measles.’”
Kimie Fukuta-Birch was just four months old when she was diagnosed with measles in spring of 2025.
A week after the onset of symptoms, Kimie tested positive for measles in hospital.
As of Tuesday, she is among the 1,065 confirmed measles cases in Alberta this year. Nearly three-quarters of them are children.
And despite the fact that most of them are from communities south of Calgary, many of those kids are winding up at Alberta Children’s Hospital.
“We’ve seen a wide range of cases,” said ACH pediatrician Dr. Sidd Thakore. “I’ve had a few cases now that are under a year of age coming in with measles, requiring oxygen, having difficulty feeding.”
Thakore said he’s treated a number of children that have ended up in the hospitals’ intensive care unit.
Baby Kimie’s recovery took over a month in and out of hospital. For now, the painful symptoms have subsided.
But she and other children may still be facing a long uncertain recovery.
“She was ever sick before she got measles — ever. Even when she had got her immunization. She didn’t get a fever or anything.” said Birch.
“And now she’s constantly been sick since then.”
Thakore suggests the long-term impacts may not even be realized for many years to come.
“Whether it’s a depressed immune system, whether it is hearing issues, blindness… And there’s a rare form of brain inflammation that’s progressive and fatal. And that can happen seven to ten years after you have a measles infection.”
Measles vaccinations are usually only on offer once kids are a year old. In high-risk areas in Alberta, that can now be pushed up to six months.
Any younger than that, immunity depends on the greater population.