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2010-03-31 03:27:20 - Epidemic Hazard - Canada EDIS CODE: EH-20100331-25532-CAN
Date & Time: 2010-03-31 03:27:20 [UTC]
Area: Canada, Province of British Columbia, Vancouver Island, Victoria Number of Infected person(s): 12
Not confirmed information! Description: Doctors on Vancouver Island have been warned to be on the lookout for measles following 12 cases in the Lower Mainland. Dr. Richard Stanwick, chief medical health officer for the Vancouver Island Health Authority, wrote a letter Tuesday to doctors requesting that they report any suspected cases of measles and send in throat swabs and urine samples for testing. Of the 12 people afflicted with the illness, two visited either Vancouver Island or Saltspring Island during their infectious phase. One of them, a man visiting friends, was even admitted to Victoria General Hospital on Saturday and stayed until Monday. Follow-up measures to help prevent the spread of infection are underway in the hospital, and with the people he was visiting. Stanwick noted in his letter to doctors the recent cases are the first, locally acquired cases of measles in B.C. in several years. Measles is a highly contagious viral disease. Symptoms include fever, cough, runny nose and a red rash, resembling grains of salt on a red, inflamed background. Complications of measles include secondary bacterial infections causing pneumonia and encephalitis. Stanwick also noted, however, a high level of population immunity exists in B.C. Children are routinely vaccinated against it, along with mumps and rubella. Adults born before 1957 are considered to have natural immunity.
The name of Hazard: Measles
Species: Human
Status: Confirmed
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