News

Ottawa Area Flooding and Tetanus Vaccination

To: Family Physicians, Nurse Practitioners, Emergency Room Physicians, and Emergency DepartmentsFrom: Dr. Monir Taha, Associate Medical Officer of HealthSubject: Ottawa Area Flooding and Tetanus Vaccination

Ottawa Public Health (OPH) has received questions related to the risk of tetanus for individuals involved in the flood response. In the coming weeks your patients may approach you with a flood-related injury or to determine if their vaccination for tetanus is up to date. While exposure to flood...

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UPDATED The 18-month Well-Baby Visit Pathway: Referral Resources for Early Intervention

The 18-month Well-Baby Visit Pathway has been updated effective February 2019. Some key changes are:

• CHEO Access Team now directs physicians and families to the correct care and treatment for children and youth. Phone: 613-737-2757 or 1-800-565-4839 Fax: 613-738-4841.
• Nipissing District Developmental Screen has changed their name to Looksee Checklist.
• Ottawa Public Health’s Healthy Baby Healthy Children home visiting program has changed their name to Healthy Growth and Development.
• Billing Codes:...

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Measles Update: Information for Physicians

Recent travel-related cases of measles involving residents of Ottawa may lead to concerns among some of your patients.

In Ottawa, immunization coverage against measles is high (approximately 95% among school-aged children). Measles vaccines provide good immunity: ~85-95% of children will develop long-lasting protection against measles from the first dose of vaccine; close to 100% of children will have developed immunity to measles after the second dose. In a well-immunized population (95% or more...

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Cryptosporidiosis

To: Family physicians, Infectious diseases specialists, Emergency physicians, Emergency DepartmentsFrom: Dr. Monir Taha, Associate Medical Officer of Health, Ottawa Public HealthSubject: Cryptosporidiosis

Ottawa Public Health has received an elevated number of laboratory reports of cryptosporidiosis in recent weeks. Cases have in common a visit to a farm—withfarm/domestic animals—with food service, but with suboptimal hand hygiene facilities. Please consider cryptosporidiosis in your differential...

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Update on measles case in Ottawa

To: Ottawa PhysiciansFrom: Dr. Robin Taylor, Associate Medical Officer of HealthSubject: Update on measles case in Ottawa

Dear Colleagues,

We are contacting you to provide an update regarding the case of measles in Ottawa. We have received questions specifically related to offering MMR immunizations for infants aged 6-12 months. At this time, Ottawa Public Health is NOT recommending any change to the Ontario Immunization schedule. Routinely, infants aged 6-12 months should only receive MMR...

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