Latest news with #AlbertaMedicalAssociation
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Physicians brace for summer travel season as Alberta tops 800 measles cases
As summer approaches, Alberta's measles case counts are expected to keep climbing and some experts worry transmission will become even more widespread. With 31 new cases reported over the weekend, Alberta's total case count jumped to 809 by midday Monday. Five people are currently hospitalized due to the virus, including two patients who are in intensive care. The outbreaks began in March and while cases have been confirmed in all zones, the south, central and north zones are the hardest hit. "This is not showing signs of slowing at this point," said Caroline Colijn, a professor and Canada Research Chair of Mathematics for Evolution, Infection and Public Health at Simon Fraser University. She predicts Alberta's measles case counts will keep climbing for months. "I would expect it will continue to transmit and find pathways through our population to reach people who are not protected." Dr. Sam Wong, president of the Alberta Medical Association's section of pediatrics, is worried about what's to come. "In a few weeks' time, if the numbers keep going ... I think that we're going to hit over 1,000 [cases]. We're going to hit more measles cases in Alberta than they have in the States," said Wong. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1,168 cases had been confirmed in the entire country, as of June 6. "That is mind-boggling to me," Wong said. "And it speaks to the failure of the [Alberta] government to do their job when they could have done it earlier on." At the University of Calgary, Craig Jenne will be watching the trends in the coming weeks. He's concerned summer activities, such as travel, could spark even more widespread transmission. "As we get into the next several weeks people will be starting summer vacations. We will see festivals ... Calgary Stampede is in a few weeks. We may then see community level transmission expand beyond the south zone," said Jenne, a professor in the department of microbiology, immunology and infectious diseases. Experts say a single case of measles transported into an area with low vaccination rates is akin to a spark landing in a tinder dry forest. "I think travel between and among communities with low immunization ... will allow the virus a path to get into a new, close-knit community where vaccination rates are low," said Colijn. The south zone accounts for 71.6 per cent of Alberta's total cases. A standing exposure advisory remains in effect for that part of the province due to widespread transmission. Health officials have warned official case counts are the "tip of the iceberg" in southern Alberta due to unreported and undetected cases. Dr. Paul Parks is seeing that firsthand in the Medicine Hat emergency room where he works. He, too, is bracing for further outbreaks in the province. "It's such a contagious illness," said Parks, who is also the past-president of the Alberta Medical Association. "As people are out at mass gathering events and as Stampede comes and as all these different events happen, we're going to have more and more spread." The measles virus can hang in the air for several hours after an infected person leaves a location. More than 90 per cent of people who are not immune and are exposed to the virus will end up infected, according to the Alberta government. "The other thing to think about is ... Alberta could be a source of measles introductions to other places," said Colijn. "We may see a broader geographic spread because of summer travel from Alberta more than to Alberta. That's very hard to predict." The vast majority of Alberta's cases are among unimmunized individuals, provincial data shows. Measles can lead to serious complications including pneumonia, brain inflammation, premature delivery and even death. Children under the age of five, people with weakened immune systems and pregnant individuals are at the highest risk of severe complications. The province says 64 Albertans have been hospitalized due to measles this year, as of May 31. Ten of those people have ended up in intensive care.
CBC
16 hours ago
- Health
- CBC
Physicians brace for summer travel season as Alberta tops 800 measles cases
As summer approaches, Alberta's measles case counts are expected to keep climbing and some experts worry transmission will become even more widespread. With 31 new cases reported over the weekend, Alberta's total case count jumped to 809 by midday Monday. Five people are currently hospitalized due to the virus, including two patients who are in intensive care. The outbreaks began in March and while cases have been confirmed in all zones, the south, central and north zones are the hardest hit. "This is not showing signs of slowing at this point," said Caroline Colijn, a professor and Canada Research Chair of Mathematics for Evolution, Infection and Public Health at Simon Fraser University. She predicts Alberta's measles case counts will keep climbing for months. "I would expect it will continue to transmit and find pathways through our population to reach people who are not protected." Dr. Sam Wong, president of the Alberta Medical Association's section of pediatrics, is worried about what's to come. "In a few weeks' time, if the numbers keep going ... I think that we're going to hit over 1,000 [cases]. We're going to hit more measles cases in Alberta than they have in the States," said Wong. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1,168 cases had been confirmed in the entire country, as of June 6. "That is mind-boggling to me," Wong said. "And it speaks to the failure of the [Alberta] government to do their job when they could have done it earlier on." Summer travel At the University of Calgary, Craig Jenne will be watching the trends in the coming weeks. He's concerned summer activities, such as travel, could spark even more widespread transmission. "As we get into the next several weeks people will be starting summer vacations. We will see festivals ... Calgary Stampede is in a few weeks. We may then see community level transmission expand beyond the south zone," said Jenne, a professor in the department of microbiology, immunology and infectious diseases. Experts say a single case of measles transported into an area with low vaccination rates is akin to a spark landing in a tinder dry forest. "I think travel between and among communities with low immunization ... will allow the virus a path to get into a new, close-knit community where vaccination rates are low," said Colijn. The south zone accounts for 71.6 per cent of Alberta's total cases. A standing exposure advisory remains in effect for that part of the province due to widespread transmission. Health officials have warned official case counts are the "tip of the iceberg" in southern Alberta due to unreported and undetected cases. Dr. Paul Parks is seeing that firsthand in the Medicine Hat emergency room where he works. He, too, is bracing for further outbreaks in the province. "It's such a contagious illness," said Parks, who is also the past-president of the Alberta Medical Association. "As people are out at mass gathering events and as Stampede comes and as all these different events happen, we're going to have more and more spread." The measles virus can hang in the air for several hours after an infected person leaves a location. More than 90 per cent of people who are not immune and are exposed to the virus will end up infected, according to the Alberta government. "The other thing to think about is ... Alberta could be a source of measles introductions to other places," said Colijn. "We may see a broader geographic spread because of summer travel from Alberta more than to Alberta. That's very hard to predict." The vast majority of Alberta's cases are among unimmunized individuals, provincial data shows. Measles can lead to serious complications including pneumonia, brain inflammation, premature delivery and even death. Children under the age of five, people with weakened immune systems and pregnant individuals are at the highest risk of severe complications. The province says 64 Albertans have been hospitalized due to measles this year, as of May 31. Ten of those people have ended up in intensive care.
CBC
6 days ago
- Health
- CBC
Doctors warn of 'frightening' measles complication that can strike a decade after initial infection
As Alberta's measles case counts soar, doctors and scientists are warning parents about the long-term and lesser-known complications of measles. And they can be deadly. As of midday Wednesday Alberta had reported a total of 749 cases since the outbreaks began in March. What many parents may not realize is that a rare and debilitating neurological condition, called subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) can develop long after a child recovers from measles. "It just frightens the heck out of me," said Dr. Sam Wong, an Edmonton-based pediatrician and president of the section of pediatrics with the Alberta Medical Association. "Thankfully it doesn't happen very often but, when it does, it's devastating." Most people can clear the measles virus once their infection is over. But in some very young children, or people who are immune-suppressed, the virus hides out in brain cells and develops mutations that allow it to stay invisible to the immune system, according to Dawn Bowdish, a professor of immunology at McMaster University. Brain inflammation It can eventually flare up, causing brain inflammation, causing children or young adults to lose the ability to move and speak. "It starts destroying the cells of the brain — there's no treatment, there's no way to repair a broken brain — and so eventually they can end up in a coma and then they will die of it," said Bowdish. According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, SSPE occurs in between four and 11 out of every 100,000 measles cases. Health officials say it strikes between seven and 11 years after an initial infection and the highest rates are among children who contract measles before the age of two. "One of the reasons we're so universally stating that people need to be vaccinated is because some of these long-term effects are just so grim," said Bowdish. Alberta's routine childhood immunization schedule recommends babies receive two doses of measles vaccine, with the first administered at 12 months and the second at 18 months. The province is offering an extra, and early, dose of the measles vaccine to babies as young as six months old who are living in the south, central and north health zones, where the current outbreaks are most intense. As the lead medical officer of health for Alberta Health Services in the South Zone, Dr. Vivien Suttorp worries about young babies whose mothers are unvaccinated. Typically, antibodies are passed along to the fetus during the third trimester, which protect them during their first few months of life, she said. But if a mom isn't immunized, the baby won't have that early protection. "They're extremely vulnerable to getting measles after birth ... and of the complications," she said, pointing to SSPE. "That's very concerning. And there is no treatment for that." According to Alberta Health, SSPE declined with the widespread adoption of measles immunization decades ago. Three cases of SSPE were reported in Alberta in 1984, followed by one case in in 1986, one in 1990 and one in 1992. No cases were reported from 1993 to 2013. In 2014, there was one more case reported in a woman who was born outside of Canada with an unknown history of measles immunization. Immune memory impacts In recent years, measles vaccination rates in Alberta have declined, and experts say that has paved the way for surging outbreaks. "Another curious complication [of measles infection] is immune amnesia," said Suttorp. Measles can wipe out a person's immune memory, she said, and make people more susceptible to other infections for months and even years. "So not only when someone has measles are they at higher risk for an infection like a bacterial pneumonia … but this also happens up to two to three years later," said Suttorp. "There is a memory loss of viruses and bacteria that someone has been exposed to before and mounted antibodies to." Bowdish said this this longer-term immune system complication happens because measles infects and kills a specific type of immune cells. "We know that people who've had measles tend to need more doctors appointments, more antibiotics and they're more susceptible to other infections for months to years to follow because measles destroys the very immune cells that we use to protect ourselves," she said. According to Bowdish, more severe initial infections trigger the loss of more immune cells and make the long-term impacts worse. She's particularly worried about infants under six months old,who are too young to be vaccinated. "Those are some of the people who are the most likely to have these really rare and severe complications," said Bowdish. "There is nothing we can do except vaccinate the people around them to protect those really, really young babies." These long-term complications are in addition to the risks that come during the initial infection, which include ear infections, pneumonia, brain swelling and death. Measles infections are fatal in roughly one to three out of every 1,000 cases, according to the Alberta government. Provincial data shows most of this year's cases are among children (569 of the 749 cases this year are under the age of 18). And the vast majority of cases are among people who are unimmunized. "Please vaccinate your child," said Wong. "It's very concerning from my point of view that, as the numbers increase, the risk of these longer-term side effects will increase, because it's a numbers game." Measles symptoms include: High fever. Cough. Runny nose. Red eyes. Blotchy, red rash that appears three to seven days after the fever starts. In darker skin colours, it may appear purple or darker than surrounding skin. Alberta Health provides detailed information on measles case counts, symptoms and free immunizations here. A list of possible exposure alerts can be found here and a measles hotline is available for people with questions about symptoms, immunization records or to book an appointment: 1-844-944-3434. A standing measles exposure advisory remains in effect for southern Alberta, due to widespread transmission in the region.
Globe and Mail
29-05-2025
- General
- Globe and Mail
Alberta doctors' group supports CMA's constitutional challenge of bill limiting access to medical care for trans youth
The Alberta Medical Association, which advocates on behalf of thousands of local doctors, says it strongly supports its national counterpart in taking the provincial government to court over its transgender legislation. On Wednesday, the Canadian Medical Association filed a constitutional challenge in the Court of King's Bench of Alberta against Bill 26, which limits access to medical care for transgender youth. Three Alberta doctors, all of whom provide gender-affirming care, are co-applicants in the filing. The CMA contends that Bill 26, which became law last December, violates physicians' freedom of conscience as guaranteed in Section 2 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The organization says the bill undermines the principle of clinical autonomy and 'cuts at the core' of a physician's professional identity. 'This profound violation cannot be justified in a free and democratic society,' the application states. Shelley Duggan, president of the AMA, said in a statement released Wednesday that the provincial organization supports 'in the strongest terms' the legal action brought forward by the CMA. 'The CMA's review application addresses the moral distress of physicians who are being barred from delivering the evidence-based care that they are called to provide under both their code of ethics and the standard of care,' Dr. Duggan said. 'That distress is real. I hear it every day in many places.' The legislation bars doctors from prescribing puberty blockers and hormone therapies for people under 16 and prohibits any gender-reassignment surgeries on minors (those under 18) – which are already performed rarely in Alberta. Heather Jenkins, press secretary to Alberta Justice Minister Mickey Amery, said in a statement Wednesday that the Alberta government will 'vigorously' defend its position in court. 'Bill 26 was introduced to protect and preserve children and youth from potentially irreversible decisions,' she said. This is the second legal action that has been taken against the Alberta government for Bill 26. Advocacy groups Egale Canada and Skipping Stone Foundation, together with families with gender-diverse children, filed a legal challenge last December that alleges the law violates several Charter-protected rights and contradicts Alberta's own Bill of Rights. Premier Danielle Smith has defended Bill 26 as necessary to protect children from making life-altering decisions that they could later regret. She has argued that the legislation strikes a balance between protecting children and upholding the rights of transgender people. Children's Healthcare Canada, in a statement Wednesday, also voiced support for the CMA's constitutional challenge. Jillian Demontigny, Jake Donaldson and Joseph Raiche, the Alberta doctors who are co-applicants with the CMA, said in their individual affidavits that this legislation has put them in an impossible position. They argue that they must now choose between compromising their ethical standards or breaking the law. Dr. Demontigny, in her affidavit, said restricting gender-affirming care for youth can cause suffering, including from gender dysphoria and gender incongruence. She said this type of care is vital and only provided after meaningful consultation. 'I cannot in good conscience abandon these patients,' she said. Dr. Raiche, in his affidavit, said he is 'profoundly troubled by the grave human cost' that the prohibitions will bring. 'Denying treatment and telling physicians that they are powerless to act is not a neutral posture,' he said. 'It is an affront to the dignity of patients whose dignity is already under daily attack by our society, and to the professional and ethical agency of doctors who care for them.' With a report from Kristy Kirkup in Ottawa
CBC
23-05-2025
- Health
- CBC
Breakup of Alberta health ministry will create confusion, doctors and nurses say
Social Sharing Organizations that represent Alberta's physicians and nurses say the splitting of the provincial health ministry into two, at the same time Alberta Health Services is broken into four, will create confusion for patients. On Friday, Premier Danielle Smith announced that Adriana LaGrange, formerly the health minister, is now minister of primary and preventative health services and Matt Jones is moving from Jobs, Economy and Trade to become minister of hospital and surgical services. Alberta Health will be divided to reflect the two ministers' areas of responsibility. The province says this completes the breakup of Alberta Health Services, the former province-wide health authority, into four different agencies: Acute Care Alberta, Recovery Alberta, Primary Care Alberta and Assisted Living Alberta. Mental Health and Addiction Minister Rick Wilson is responsible for Recovery Alberta. Jason Nixon, the minister of the newly named Assisted Living and Social Services ministry, will oversee Assisted Living Alberta. Dr. Shelley Duggan, president of the Alberta Medical Association, is concerned about how patients will navigate the new system. In an interview with CBC News, Duggan gave the example of a physician caring for a hospital patient who will need home care after they are discharged. "Maybe you're having a challenge with getting them home care," she said. "Do you go to the acute care people and ask for help? Do you go to the continuing care people and ask for help?" Lack of transparency, UNA president says Another example Duggan gave is a psychiatrist caring for a patient with substance use issues. If the patient is in hospital, Acute Care Alberta is the agency the doctor deals with, Duggan said. If that patient needs to move into addictions treatment, then Recovery Alberta is in charge. "You can see that even within a hospital stay or an event, we'll call it, people can move between all of these different pillars," she said. Heather Smith, president of the United Nurses of Alberta, said the confusion created by the AHS and ministerial break-up will blur the lines of accountability. She said Alberta Health Services was transparent. These new pillars with their respective ministers make it harder for the public to see where their taxes are going. "Nixon, Jones, Wilson or LaGrange, which minister of health do you speak to about your concerns, about the services you are or are not able to access?" Smith said. "We had one minister, the buck stopped there. We now have four ministers. Who knows where the buck stops?" A spokesperson for the province said the ministerial changes won't affect patients. "Public servants will continue their work as usual, with organizational structures and reporting lines adjusting to reflect the new cabinet responsibilities, as is standard with changes in cabinet," a spokesperson said in an email attributed to LaGrange's office. Duggan said the AMA has met regularly with LaGrange. She said she sent a request to meet with Jones, Nixon and Wilson. "For physicians, it's just confusion and chaos and hoping that the changes will sort of end soon and that we can figure out what the new reality is," she said.
