Measles: Albertan hospitals sort potential patients

Hospitals in Alberta examine patients with symptoms of measles in their vehicle so that they do not receive directly from the waiting rooms.

The approach aims to minimize the risks of contagion in a hospital environment and to stem the spread of the disease in the province.

With 21 new cases reported on Thursday, bringing the number of infected people to 1267, Alberta is the province which has the largest number of measles per capita in the country.

The situation is such that some hospitals use a methodical sorting of people who may have contracted the disease, as indicated by the D^re Stephanie Smithspecialist in infectious diseases at the University of Alberta hospital.

Many hospitals have been proceeding for the past two months at leastshe says.

The D^re Smith specifies that the pediatric hospital Stollery, In Edmonton, is one of them. She explains that it is because young children admitted to this establishment cannot be completely vaccinated.

The objective is to provide care for these people, while ensuring the safety of those who are already in emergency services.

This is also the case at the Gray Sisters Hospital (Grey Nuns), in the neighborhood Mill Woodswhere symptomatic patients are first welcomed within the establishment, as at the time of COVID-19.

The D^re Stephanie Smith note that hospitals thus opt for a Additional caution layer.

This prudence is to put gray sisters in the hospital, especially since, out of the 12 cases of measles identified to date in the Alberta capital since March, three have been detected in this establishment.

Alberta health services (AHS) said that sorting measures have only been applied occasionally and intermittent since March.

This is not a response to a significant increase in the number of casesas specified in an email Christ amonga spokesperson forAHS.

In troubled waters

The D^r James Talbot is a former chief public health in the province. According to him, the case of measles which continues to skyrocket indicates that the province navigates in troubled waters.

We now have the worst assessment of North Americahe denounces.

He gives the example of Texas, which counts 750 cases, while its population is ten times higher than ours.

The D^r Talbot Fear that the situation will become untenable, in particular due to the summer season, which is conducive to popular rallies and interpromectial travel, but also of the start of the school year in the fall, which can give rise, according to him, to a new wave of hatching of the disease.

It also warns that the multiplication of cases in Canada could make the country lose its status as a determination of measles which it acquired in 1998, which could have repercussions on reputation and the national economy.

Improvement of the vaccination rate

Provincial health authorities ensure that they are working to improve vaccination coverage.

The Ministry of Primary and Preventive Health Services thus indicates that between March 16 and June 28, more than 75,000 measles vaccines were administered, an increase of more than 57 % compared to the same period last year.

The ministry also claims that in the southern medical zone the vaccine administration increased by 126 %.

This area is the most affected, with 759 infected people, representing 60 % of the total measles cases identified throughout the province.

It is followed by the northern medical area (363 cases), then by the Center medical area (107 cases), then by the Calgary medical zone (26 cases), and finally by the Edmonton medical zone (12 cases).

As of July 5, out of a total of 1214 cases of measles, Alberta counted 102 hospitalizations, including 15 admissions to intensive care.

With information from Andrea Huncar