Doctors in Alberta are watching for any signs of a severe and mysterious form of hepatitis in kids and teens that is baffling doctors and scientists around the world.
Nearly 200 cases of acute liver disease have been found in kids, ranging in age from one month to 16, in at least a dozen countries.
So far, 17 children have required liver transplants and there has been at least one death.
While federal health officials say several cases are under investigation in young Canadian children, the condition has not been identified in any Alberta kids.
“There have been no confirmed cases of severe unexplained hepatitis in Alberta to date. We’ll continue to update Albertans as appropriate,” Alberta Health spokesperson Lisa Glover said in a statement emailed to CBC News on Friday.
Officials did not respond to questions from CBC News about whether any of the Canadian cases under investigation are in Alberta.
No identified cause
The illness is particularly puzzling because researchers have been unable to pinpoint a cause.
“There are many causes for hepatitis, but in these cases the most common causes have been ruled out and it is not clear what led to the condition,” said Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, in a news conference on Wednesday.
“There is a great deal of work being done on this globally and some cases have had an adenovirus, which is a common cold virus, identified. It is not clear if this virus is causing the hepatitis, but it is one possible cause being explored.”
The World Health Organization said this week that adenovirus has been detected in at least 74 cases, SARS-CoV-2 has been identified in other cases and some children have tested positive for both.
The unexpected surge in acute hepatitis in children has doctors in Alberta on alert.
Edmonton pediatrician, Dr. Tehseen Ladha, says when kids have abdominal pain, vomiting and diarrhea, which are symptoms that can be quite common, she’s now more likely to check liver enzymes to look for liver inflammation. (CBC)
“I am concerned,” said Dr. Tehseen Ladha, an Edmonton-based pediatrician and assistant professor in the faculty of medicine at the University of Alberta.
“It’s made us more on the lookout and more vigilant for some of these symptoms that we may not normally do blood work for. So if a child has abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting — those are not normally things that we would work up with blood work. But knowing that hepatitis is occurring all over the world in children, those sorts of things we will look at more closely now to determine whether that child needs blood work and more investigations.”
‘I don’t think parents should be worrying about it in the day to day activities of their life,’ said Dr. Stephen Freedman, a professor of pediatrics and emergency medicine at the University of Calgary. (Riley Brandt/University of Calgary)
Alberta Children’s Hospital ER physician Dr. Stephen Freedman cautioned parents against panic.
“The risk to children in Canada is exceedingly, exceedingly low at this point in time,” said Freedman who also teaches pediatrics at the University of Calgary’s Cumming School Of Medicine.
“I don’t think parents should be worrying about it in the day to day activities of their life.”
Freedman noted gastrointestinal symptoms are commonly seen in the pediatric emergency room. However, he’s seeing no worrisome signs.
“What really should be a red flag to parents or physicians [and] health care providers is children who have any really dark, tea-coloured urine, or if their skin or eyes have a yellow-ish hue to them. That would be concerning that the liver is actually involved in whatever process is going on,” he said.
“None of the kids that we are seeing to the best of my knowledge have any additional concerning features that would make us worry about liver failure.”
Health officials say if there is an infectious cause behind this illness, measures such as handwashing, mask-wearing, and staying home when sick, can help.
“We are working to provide information to frontline physicians on this topic as usual,” Glover said.
“We are working closely with federal, provincial and territorial partners to monitor emerging information, and are waiting on [the Public Health Agency of Canada] to provide a standardized national minimum data reporting set, which we anticipate will be available soon.”
HALIFAX – The Nova Scotia government says it could be months before it reveals how many people are on the wait-list for a family doctor.
The head of the province’s health authority told reporters Wednesday that the government won’t release updated data until the 160,000 people who were on the wait-list in June are contacted to verify whether they still need primary care.
Karen Oldfield said Nova Scotia Health is working on validating the primary care wait-list data before posting new numbers, and that work may take a matter of months. The most recent public wait-list figures are from June 1, when 160,234 people, or about 16 per cent of the population, were on it.
“It’s going to take time to make 160,000 calls,” Oldfield said. “We are not talking weeks, we are talking months.”
The interim CEO and president of Nova Scotia Health said people on the list are being asked where they live, whether they still need a family doctor, and to give an update on their health.
A spokesperson with the province’s Health Department says the government and its health authority are “working hard” to turn the wait-list registry into a useful tool, adding that the data will be shared once it is validated.
Nova Scotia’s NDP are calling on Premier Tim Houston to immediately release statistics on how many people are looking for a family doctor. On Tuesday, the NDP introduced a bill that would require the health minister to make the number public every month.
“It is unacceptable for the list to be more than three months out of date,” NDP Leader Claudia Chender said Tuesday.
Chender said releasing this data regularly is vital so Nova Scotians can track the government’s progress on its main 2021 campaign promise: fixing health care.
The number of people in need of a family doctor has more than doubled between the 2021 summer election campaign and June 2024. Since September 2021 about 300 doctors have been added to the provincial health system, the Health Department said.
“We’ll know if Tim Houston is keeping his 2021 election promise to fix health care when Nova Scotians are attached to primary care,” Chender said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Newfoundland and Labrador‘s chief medical officer is monitoring the rise of whooping cough infections across the province as cases of the highly contagious disease continue to grow across Canada.
Dr. Janice Fitzgerald says that so far this year, the province has recorded 230 confirmed cases of the vaccine-preventable respiratory tract infection, also known as pertussis.
Late last month, Quebec reported more than 11,000 cases during the same time period, while Ontario counted 470 cases, well above the five-year average of 98. In Quebec, the majority of patients are between the ages of 10 and 14.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick has declared a whooping cough outbreak across the province. A total of 141 cases were reported by last month, exceeding the five-year average of 34.
The disease can lead to severe complications among vulnerable populations including infants, who are at the highest risk of suffering from complications like pneumonia and seizures. Symptoms may start with a runny nose, mild fever and cough, then progress to severe coughing accompanied by a distinctive “whooping” sound during inhalation.
“The public, especially pregnant people and those in close contact with infants, are encouraged to be aware of symptoms related to pertussis and to ensure vaccinations are up to date,” Newfoundland and Labrador’s Health Department said in a statement.
Whooping cough can be treated with antibiotics, but vaccination is the most effective way to control the spread of the disease. As a result, the province has expanded immunization efforts this school year. While booster doses are already offered in Grade 9, the vaccine is now being offered to Grade 8 students as well.
Public health officials say whooping cough is a cyclical disease that increases every two to five or six years.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick’s acting chief medical officer of health expects the current case count to get worse before tapering off.
A rise in whooping cough cases has also been reported in the United States and elsewhere. The Pan American Health Organization issued an alert in July encouraging countries to ramp up their surveillance and vaccination coverage.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.
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