Canada's top doctor is urging Canadians who haven't been vaccinated against measles to get their shots.
The plea comes in the wake of an outbreak of the disease in British Columbia and the always present danger of cases being imported into the country by travellers.
Chief Public Health Officer, Dr. Teresa Tam, says measles is a ``serious and highly contagious disease'' and that getting inoculated is the best way to avoid getting sick.
Her comments follow the cluster of nine cases of measles in Vancouver that began in recent weeks after an unvaccinated Canadian child contracted the disease on a family trip to Vietnam.
Infection of the measles virus starts with a high fever, coughing, sneezing and red eyes, followed by the development of a blotchy, painful rash.
Tam adds that getting two doses of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine -- known as M-M-R -- is virtually 100 per cent effective in preventing the disease within a given population.