By Graham Whittaker [1]
BELLEVILLE – Quinte Health Care [2] has confirmed that it is screening patients for the highly contagious new coronavirus that has caused at least 17 deaths in China.
The virus is a new entry into a large family of coronaviruses that includes previous pandemic illnesses like SARS [3] and MERS [4]. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [5], it is associated with cough, headache, fever and other upper-respiratory symptoms that can prove deadly if pneumonia develops.
While it was originally detected in Wuhan City, China, the virus has been found in several other countries, including the United States and Thailand, according to the CDC.
Quinte Health Care spokesperson Carly Baxter told QNet News Wednesday that the hospitals in Belleville, Picton, Trenton and Bancroft are actively monitoring patients for symptoms.
“It’s already part of our regular screening in triage at our emergency departments to ask about fever, cough, contact with sick individuals and travel history,” she said.
“If someone who had just returned from China presented in one of our emergency departments with a fever and cough, we would ask the patient to clean their hands, put on a mask, and they would be evaluated in a private room – ideally an airborne infection isolation room,” Baxter said. “Health-care workers entering the room would take appropriate precautions by putting on a gown, gloves, mask and eye protection, and we would contact public health to determine whether that person should be tested.”
In a statement Wednesday, Ontario’s minister of health, Christine Elliott, said the province’s health system is more prepared than ever when it comes to a potential epidemic.
“While the risks posed by this new coronavirus to Ontarians remain low, the province is actively monitoring and is fully prepared to respond. To date, there have been no confirmed cases in Canada,” Elliott said.
Based on previous experiences with outbreaks, like SARS in 2002, practices have been put in place so the province can respond as soon as possible, she said. Passengers travelling from infected areas, specifically Wuhan, are tested at the airports upon arrival in Canada, Elliott said.
Any suspected or confirmed cases are to be promptly reported to the local medical officer of health so that swift and effective action can be taken, she said.
The CDC says that it has tests capable of diagnosing positive cases, but these tests have yet to become available internationally.
According to Infection Prevention and Control Canada [6], a total of 555 cases of pneumonia caused by the virus have been confirmed worldwide.