- The mumps outbreak has knocked more than 100 health-care
workers in the Halifax area out of commission. As many as 134 hospital
workers are on paid leave and in isolation because they've tested positive
for exposure to mumps. They are among about 550 employees who have been
exposed to the disease since the outbreak began in February, the Capital
District Health Authority said Monday.
-
- One employee at the Dartmouth General Hospital contracted
the disease, and that had a domino effect on the surgical schedule, said
a health authority spokesman. "We had several staff off because
of exposure to mumps last week, and because of that we had to cancel 20
surgeries," said Peter Graham.
-
- More health-care workers were expected to be tested for
the mumps on Monday. "We're back up to regular scheduled surgeries
this week, but that could change in another area if another case appears,"
Graham said.
-
- A vaccination program to reach as many as 40,000 health-care
workers will begin this week. There have been 222 reported cases of
the mumps in Nova Scotia since February.
-
- http://www.cbc.ca/canada/nova-scotia/story/2007/05/14/mumps-
hospital.html?ref=rss
-
-
- MUMPS - CANADA (MULTI-PROVINCE) (03)
-
- Date: Fri 11 May 2007 Source: canada.com, Canadian Press
report, Fri 11 May 2007
-
- Nova Scotia to begin mumps immunization for health-care
workers - Nova Scotia is starting a mumps immunization program for health-care
workers as an outbreak of the virus in the province climbed in the last
week [6-12 May 2007] by 19 confirmed cases to 222 on Fri [11 May 2007].
The immunization program will begin as early as next week with roughly
40 000 doses of measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine being made available
to health-care workers. A week ago [6 May 2007], there were 203 confirmed
cases of the virus in Nova Scotia.
-
- Dr. Shelly Sarwal, the province's medical officer of
health, said the vaccination program will help the maintain health services
in the province. "We feel this is an important public health measure,"
Sarwal said in a news release. "A vaccination campaign will not stop
the outbreak, but what it will do is help to manage absenteeism in health-
care workers as a result of mumps, and therefore help sustain the health-care
system for Nova Scotians."
-
- Since the beginning of the outbreak in February [2007],
222 cases of mumps have been reported across Nova Scotia - and the disease
is continuing its track into other provinces. New Brunswick reported on
Friday [11 May 2007] that its case load had jumped to 40, up from 34 a
week earlier. Prince Edward Island remained unchanged at one confirmed
case.
-
- Ontario health officials said there are now 8 confirmed
cases in the province, up from 3 a week ago [6 May 2007]. Of those, 6 are
university students in Nova Scotia who recently returned home to Ontario
for the summer. The other 2 cases are adults who had been travelling in
the Atlantic province.
-
- While the number of new cases in the Halifax region is
declining, elsewhere across the province cases were up from last week [6-12
May 2007]. Health officials predicted the decline in the Halifax area as
university students, where the outbreak is believed to have begun, returned
home for the summer. Public health officials said they spoke this week
with their counterparts in the United States and the United Kingdom about
lessons learned from management of mumps outbreaks in those countries.
-
- Nova Scotia is also looking at an immunization program
for the university-age population. People are being advised to watch for
patients with mumps-like symptoms. These include aches, pains, fever,
loss of appetite and, in about 40 percent of cases, the hugely swollen
saliva glands that give mumps its characteristic chipmunk-cheek look.
-
- The Nova Scotia outbreak, which began in the 3 week of
February [2007], is the province's 3rd in 2 years. It is by far the largest;
the earlier outbreaks, in 2005, involved 13 and 19 cases respectively.
It has been fuelled by a pool of susceptible young adults. Sarwal has said
authorities believe many of the province's cases were vaccinated with
MMR [measles, mumps, rubella] in childhood, but received only one dose.
The one-dose schedule for the MMR vaccine was adequate to protect many
people. If it had not been, this outbreak would be much larger. But it's
now known one dose doesn't protect everyone and MMR is now given in 2 doses.
University dormitories and crowded student apartments make for easy spread
of the virus among susceptible young adults. When they move home, however,
they spend more time around adults, most of whom would have had mumps in
childhood and would be immune.
-
- http://bodyandhealth.canada.com/channel_health_news_details.asp?
news_id=12321&news_channel_id=1020&channel_id=1020
-
- ******
-
- Date: Sat 12 May 2007 Source: globeandmail.com, Canadian
Press report, Sat 12 May 2007
-
- Nova Scotian health-care workers to be immunized; 1st
case in British Columbia
-
- With the number of mumps cases rising in the province,
the Nova Scotian government announced yesterday it will begin immunizing
thousands of health-care workers against the virus as early as next week
[14-19 May 2007]. As of yesterday [Fri 11 May 2007], 222 confirmed cases
had been reported in Nova Scotia, up 19 from 203 the previous week. Shelly
Sarwal, the province's medical officer of health, said about 40 000 doses
of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine are being made available
on a voluntary basis to health-care workers, with the aim of protecting
health services in the province. "Providing this vaccine now to health-care
workers isn't going to do much for the current outbreak," Dr. Sarwal
said in an interview yesterday. "It's for preventing future outbreaks
similar to this and for making sure that our population is properly immunized.
The purpose of this program is to maintain our health-care system and the
staffing within the health-care system," she said. "We do have
some health-care workers who have been diagnosed with the mumps who are
off of work."
-
- About 900 of the province's 30 000-plus health providers
have been exposed to mumps, and currently 130 are off the job, she said.
Any worker who has come into contact with an infected person could potentially
be off work for 2 weeks or more because the incubation period for the virus
is 14 to 25 days. "We have to be extra cautious within the health-care
system," Dr. Sarwal added. "I can't take the chance of a health-care
worker transmitting the infection to a patient."
-
- While the number of new cases in the Halifax region is
declining, elsewhere across Nova Scotia cases were up from last week[6-12
May 2007]. The Nova Scotia mumps outbreak began in February [2007], likely
among university-aged students with inadequate immunity to the virus. Cases
have begun springing up elsewhere in Canada, as those exposed to the disease
return to their home provinces. The latest province to join the mumps
hit list is British Columbia (BC), which has one confirmed case reported,
said Perry Kendall, BC's medical officer of health.
-
- As of yesterday [Fri 11 May 2007], New Brunswick had
40 cases, up from 34 a week earlier. Prince Edward Island remained unchanged
at one confirmed case. Manitoba and Saskatchewan report no mumps cases,
while Alberta has 3 cases for the year, but they are among unimmunized,
international travellers and unrelated to the Nova Scotia outbreak. In
Ontario, health officials said there are now 8 confirmed cases, up from
3 a week ago [6 May 2007]. Of those, 6 are students who attend university
in Nova Scotia and recently returned home to Ontario for the summer. The
other 2 cases are adults who had been travelling in the Atlantic province.
-
- Symptoms of mumps include aches, pains, fever, loss of
appetite and, in about 40 percent of cases, the hugely swollen saliva glands
that give mumps patients their characteristic chipmunk-cheek look. Public
health officials said they spoke this week with their counterparts in the
United States and Britain about lessons they have learned from management
of mumps outbreaks.
-
- http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070512.MUMPSCASE12/
TPStory/National
-
- _____
-
- Communicated by: a Canadian correspondent
-
- (ProMED-mail thanks again our Canadian correspondent
for drawing attention to these reports. - Mod.CP)
-
- Patricia A. Doyle DVM, PhD
- Bus Admin, Tropical Agricultural Economics
- Univ of West Indies
-
- Please visit my "Emerging Diseases" message
board at:
- http://www.emergingdisease.org/phpbb/index.php
- Also my new website:
- http://drpdoyle.tripod.com/
- Zhan le Devlesa tai sastimasa
- Go with God and in Good Health
|
