1 week ago
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The Ministry of Health and Wellness continues to monitor and respond to an increase in measles cases across Belize. Acting Deputy Director of Public Health and Wellness, Dr. Laura Friesen, confirmed today that Belize has recorded twelve measles cases since the start of 2026. According to the ministry, the cases are primarily linked to international travel and exposure within border communities. In response, surveillance and containment measures have been strengthened nationwide as outbreaks continue to affect countries across the Americas. Dr. Friesen stated that all confirmed measles cases involve individuals who were unvaccinated. The youngest patient is nine months old, while the oldest is fifty-four. She also explained that confirmation testing currently takes approximately one week. Although samples are still sent abroad for final confirmation, local health authorities are able to make preliminary diagnoses while awaiting official laboratory results. Dr. Friesen is urging the public to follow safety protocols and are especially encouraging travelers to get vaccinated for added protection.
Dr. Laura Friesen, Medical Officer, MOHW: “We have approximately 12 cases of measles currently in the country of Belize. A few of them are preliminary results and most of them are now confirmed results. So we are noticing that these cases are all linked to travel to Guatemala or linked to travelers from Guatemala due to the big rise that they are having from April / May of this year. So that is what the situation is currently. We are conducting surveillance activities countrywide. We are following up all of our cases that we identified to ensure that the proper clinical treatment is given and that persons are placed in isolation to reduce the risk of transmission in the community as well. We have four clusters. We have two clusters in Punta Gorda. They were different introductions, both related to travel to Guatemala. We have a small cluster here in the Cayo District and we have also a small cluster in Belize City, that’s one case in specific. The infectious period is four days before the day that the rash starts and then it continues four days after the rash starts. So the date that the rush starts is day zero. So four days before, four days after, So it’s about a total of nine days. Well, I think that the main goal that we have, we give information and we encourage persons to protect their health. We encourage persons to protect the health of their children. So we do a lot of community outreaches. We work with the community health workers in different villages and different rural areas, different areas that maybe would have historically have lower vaccination rates. And we would go in, we would speak with the community leaders, we would enlist the help of the community health workers. And so what we do is we just we work with them as best as we can. We give them the information and we encourage them to come to us if any questions and we encourage them to protect their health and to protect the health of their children.”
The ministry reports that all confirmed patients are recovering safely and have been cooperating fully with health authorities. Friesen added that all detected cases have been isolated as part of ongoing containment efforts
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