Rubella, also known as German measles, is a disease caused by the rubella virus. Rubella generally affects children, but can be more severe in adults, particularly pregnant women. For more information, see the health unit's fact sheet on rubella.
Rubella can be prevented by a vaccine. For more information on the vaccine, please see the health unit’s fact sheet on rubella vaccine.
Simcoe Muskoka
Ontario
Technical Notes
Simcoe Muskoka
The following graph shows the number of rubella cases in Simcoe Muskoka between 2000 and 2021. There have been between zero and one case of rubella in Simcoe Muskoka every year since 2000. In 2021, zero cases of rubella were reported in Simcoe Muskoka.
Ontario
The following graph shows the incidence rate of rubella in Simcoe Muskoka and Ontario between 2000 and 2021. The incidence rate for rubella in Simcoe Muskoka for 2021 was 0.0 cases per 100,000 population and the Ontario rate was 0.0 cases per 100,000 population.
In 2005, there was an outbreak of rubella among under-vaccinated individuals in a south-western Ontario community, as indicated by the spike in the Ontario rate.
More detailed data for Ontario and each health unit can be found on Public Health Ontario’s interactive Reportable Disease Trends in Ontario tool.
Technical Notes
There are many factors that influence how many cases are reported to the health unit, as explained on the Infectious Diseases page. It is unclear to what extent the global COVID-19 pandemic has influenced the reporting and spread of other infectious diseases – counts and rates of disease since 2020 should be interpreted with caution.
Provincial definitions classify cases as confirmed, probable or suspect based on clinical and/or laboratory diagnostic criteria. The provincial case definition for pertussis changed in April 2009 to include a definition for probable cases whereas before there was no such classification. The definitions of confirmed and probable cases from 2009 onwards are comparable to confirmed cases before 2009.
Page last updated August 19, 2022