“They’re not child proof. Nothing is child proof. They’re child resistant. Depending on the child, it’s a matter of just minutes or seconds before they’re into that medication.”
A physician at the Stollery Children’s Hospital is concerned about the number of cases he sees of poisonings among children aged 0-5 related to medications.
“There hasn’t been a significant change in numbers, but they’re certainly not decreasing,” said Dr. Andrew Dixon, a physician for 15 years.
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“It comes down to a bit of forgetfulness among parents and caregivers. You take something out of the cupboard and forget to put it back and the child finds it. They see nice colours and something that may look like candy to them, and they eat it.”
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Alberta Health Service’s Poison and Drug Information Service (PADIS) received 2,696 calls of potential poison exposure in children aged five and under in the Edmonton area in 2023. A total of 1,891 of those calls came directly within Edmonton.
Across the province, PADIS annually receives more than 9,500 calls a year relating to children aged five and under. That averages out to six out of every 10 calls and 27 calls a day.
PADIS offers free and confidential telephone advice 24 hours a day from public and health care professionals on poisons, chemicals, medicines, and herbal supplements. This service provides emergency advice about poisonings and poison education and prevention.
Not all calls led to hospital admissions and several of these cases would be managed through home care and direction from PADIS, but it’s a stark reminder to all parents and caregivers to keep medications out of reach and out of sight of young children.
“It comes down to education of parents and caregivers to be mindful of where they’re storing their medications. They need to be out of reach of children,” said Kathy Belton, director of the Injury Prevention Centre based in the University of Alberta’s school of public health.
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“I think because over-the-counter medications and medications are so common place in our world, we don’t often think of them as things that can harm, because most of the time medications are prescribed for a person’s good.“
While Belton said often parents aren’t storing medications away from children properly, which lead to incidents, she also says some people have a false sense of security when it comes to “child-proof” bottles.
“They’re not child-proof. Nothing is child-proof. They’re child-resistant. Depending on the child, it’s a matter of just minutes or seconds before they’re into that medication,” said Belton.
Belton said she’s seeing a number of cases where grandparents are moving into the home, or visiting, and may have medications in their purses or jackets that children are apt to find.
Belton says the best way to prevent poisoning among young children is for parents to keep medications stored in high places and out of reach of children.
“It’s an added stress and cost, that quite frankly our health care system is overburdened as is. We could alleviate some of the stress on our health care system if people took the proper precautions,” said Belton.
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Belton said that parents and caregivers also need to be aware when administering medication to children. She’s seen situations where a parent or caregiver may have not checked to see if the medication has been given already, leading to an excess dosage.
She also says that medication needs to be given in the proper manner.
“We’re trying to encourage parents to use proper technique to administer medication. Now that all the spoons aren’t the same size, that’s an issue,” said Belton.
“We encourage parents to use a syringe or medication cup, because then the child is actually getting the appropriate dose.”
Belton says there are a number of household items and other products around a person’s home that can cause problems, too.
“Hand sanitizer is common. Kids mimic what parents would do with the hand sanitizer, and then put their hands in their mouth. The amount you’d typically use is meant for an adult hand, and it’s way too much for their little hands,” said Belton.
“A lot of homes have sage products, those essential oils can be poisonous. Things like vitamin D, melatonin, cosmetics. There are a whole host of things that can cause a child to get sick if they ingest it.”
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Dixon says that many of the poison cases he sees involving medication at the Stollery are treatable, but he said he’s seen an increase in cases involving children ingesting marijuana edibles, laundry pods and button-sized batteries.
“Young children who ingest marijuana edibles can cause some big issues,” said Dixon.
“Laundry pods are very serious and button batteries, they’re the most dangerous. They can burn a child’s esophagus.”
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The Canadian government says it will donate up to 200,000 vaccine doses to fight the mpox outbreak in Congo and other African countries.
It says the donated doses of Imvamune will come from Canada’s existing supply and will not affect the country’s preparedness for mpox cases in this country.
Minister of Health Mark Holland says the donation “will help to protect those in the most affected regions of Africa and will help prevent further spread of the virus.”
Dr. Madhukar Pai, Canada research chair in epidemiology and global health, says although the donation is welcome, it is a very small portion of the estimated 10 million vaccine doses needed to control the outbreak.
Vaccine donations from wealthier countries have only recently started arriving in Africa, almost a month after the World Health Organization declared the mpox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.
A few days after the declaration in August, Global Affairs Canada announced a contribution of $1 million for mpox surveillance, diagnostic tools, research and community awareness in Africa.
On Thursday, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said mpox is still on the rise and that testing rates are “insufficient” across the continent.
Jason Kindrachuk, Canada research chair in emerging viruses at the University of Manitoba, said donating vaccines, in addition to supporting surveillance and diagnostic tests, is “massively important.”
But Kindrachuk, who has worked on the ground in Congo during the epidemic, also said that the international response to the mpox outbreak is “better late than never (but) better never late.”
“It would have been fantastic for us globally to not be in this position by having provided doses a much, much longer time prior than when we are,” he said, noting that the outbreak of clade I mpox in Congo started in early 2023.
Clade II mpox, endemic in regions of West Africa, came to the world’s attention even earlier — in 2022 — as that strain of virus spread to other countries, including Canada.
Two doses are recommended for mpox vaccination, so the donation may only benefit 100,000 people, Pai said.
Pai questioned whether Canada is contributing enough, as the federal government hasn’t said what percentage of its mpox vaccine stockpile it is donating.
“Small donations are simply not going to help end this crisis. We need to show greater solidarity and support,” he said in an email.
“That is the biggest lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic — our collective safety is tied with that of other nations.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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