A British Columbia school has been temporarily closed amid fears the extremely contagious measles virus could have infected as many as 100 students, the Chief Medical Health Officer for the area says.

There have been two confirmed cases of the potentially fatal disease — which is preventable — in the greater community of Chilliwack, 100 kilometres east of Vancouver.

Dr. Paul Van Buynder said the outbreak hasn’t spread further into the wider community, as the students at the Mount Cheam Christian School have returned to their homes.

“What we don’t know is if it will leak into the community,” he said in an interview.

The students are members of a the Reformed Congregation of North America.

The school’s principal declined to comment to the Star.

Van Buynder said he’s frustrated that 25 to 30 per cent of the surrounding community isn’t vaccinated against measles even though there are readily available and free vaccines.

Measles can cause fever, a rash, brain inflammation, pneumonia, brain damage, blindness, deafness and even death. It’s particularly dangerous for toddlers and infants.

Van Buynder has issued a warning to the Fraser East communities of Abbotsford, Mission, Chilliwack, Agassiz, Harrison Hot Springs and Hope.

“That’s not enough to provide herd immunity,” Van Buynder said.

“We supposedly had eradicated measles.”

Since measles has an incubation period of a couple of weeks, it’s too early to assess the scope of the problem, he said.

There have been recent outbreaks in Orthodox Protestant groups in Holland, as well as in India and the Philippines, Van Buynder said.

“We get sporadic access all of the time from people who go and visit these places and bring it back,” Van Buynder said.

Van Buynder said he’s thankful the school cancelled a planned trip to Haiti, which would have had potentially disastrous results to fellow airline passengers and people in Haiti.

“They cancelled the trip to Haiti,” he said. “That (the trip) would have been an absolute nightmare.”

All residents who may have been exposed to the virus are strongly urged not to travel during the spring break.

Van Buynder said he’s extremely frustrated that some people take their cues on vaccination from conspiracy theorists and celebrities on the Internet rather than listen to medical professionals.

“We have a whole lot of pseudo-science,” he said.

“Parents are focused on stories they hear or read on the Internet,” he said.

He said that parents become confused with conflicting information, and end up doing nothing.

“They take the path of least resistance, which is not to vaccinate,” he said.

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Correction: Martch 12. 2014: This article was edited from a previous version that mistakenly said the B.C. students are members of a Chreistian Reformed congregation.

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