Category: Infectious Disease

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  • 60. Case: Health Care Providers Under Quarantine

    My story starts in early April, during a routine day shift in our minor care area. A previously well middle-aged man, recently returned from Hong Kong, presented with fever. Because SARS was already recognized and we’d gone through the recent experience of a crash intubation with our first case at Vancouver General, this patient was…

    View Case Study: 60. Case: Health Care Providers Under Quarantine

  • 59. Case: HPV Vaccine for Boys

    PEI is expanding its human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccination program to include grade six boys. Girls have been receiving the HPV vaccine since 2007. HPV is the most common sexually-transmitted infection among young adults. It can lead to genital warts and, in girls, cervical cancer. For boys it can also lead to cancers of the…

    View Case Study: 59. Case: HPV Vaccine for Boys

  • 58. Case: Harm Reduction

    Medical Officers of Health from British Colombia, Nova Scotia, and Saskatchewan have written to advocate for emphasizing harm reduction in the approach to cannabis and other illegal drugs (including possible legalization). “Evidence-based drug treatment programs are cost effective, and significant benefits should be derived, at both individual and societal levels, through an increase in scale.…

    View Case Study: 58. Case: Harm Reduction

  • 34. Case: To Tell or Not to Tell

    The head pathologist of the regional hospital informs the head pathologist of the tertiary care centre that the post-mortem examination of a former patient, Mrs. Dempsey, has revealed that she suffered from a neurological infection called CJD (Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease). The tertiary centre pathologist reports this to the VP of Acute Care who determines through investigation…

    View Case Study: 34. Case: To Tell or Not to Tell

  • 32. Case: To Report or Not

    Dr. B is the epidemiologist and director of infection control for an academic health centre. The reportable disease statutes and regulations in Dr. B’s province specify that hospitals and other health care facilities throughout the province are required to track nosocomial infections (infections not present in patients prior to their admission to the hospital) and…

    View Case Study: 32. Case: To Report or Not

  • 7. Case: Unknown Risks

    A person who was a first responder at an accident comes into the Emergency Room with blood/body fluid on himself. The patient who was involved in the accident was immediately sent to Halifax where he later passed away. His family had refused to allow his blood to be drawn for testing. The first responder is…

    View Case Study: 7. Case: Unknown Risks

  • 5. Case: Caring for a “Difficult” Patient

    A female patient in her mid-forties has been on the GI service for several months now due to severe Crohn’s Disease, which has left her with multiple draining abdominal fistuli. She has recently moved out of the province but her condition could not be treated adequately in the local hospital so she was transferred back…

    View Case Study: 5. Case: Caring for a “Difficult” Patient

  • 3. Case: Superbugs

    Jeannette Cutler is an 83-year old woman admitted to hospital after falling and breaking her arm.  She reports that she fell because she passed out, and so further investigations are being conducted.  She has mild dementia but is otherwise seemingly healthy.  Upon admission, she screens positive for MRSA and is subject to strict isolation procedures…

    View Case Study: 3. Case: Superbugs

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