Invasive meningococcal disease is on the rise in Toronto. The city's public health unit says an uncommon strain has already killed two people, including one child. Doctors are now encouraging everyone behind on their shots to get up to date.Toronto Public Health is encouraging people to get vaccinated against invasive meningococcal disease after an uncommon strain circulating in the community has proven deadly.
She also noted that a strain of the disease called W-135, which is not usually common in Canada, has already proven deadly.IMD is a rare but life-threatening bacterial infection that can infect the brain and spinal cord, causing meningitis, and the bloodstream, causing septicemia. Teens and infants are most likely to become infected and up to 10 per cent of all patients with IMD die, according to
The W-135 strain usually makes up 20 per cent of all cases in Toronto, but that's increased to half this year, according to TPH. "The Hajj has so many people grouped together and meningococcal vaccines have been relatively expensive, and so they're out of reach of many countries in the world," McGeer said.
"It's those adolescents leaving high school, getting into university, where, unfortunately, we see this killer disease," she said. Those who don't know whether they've received any of the IMD vaccines, should get vaccinated just in case, Brown said.Infectious disease specialist Dr. Dick Zoutman said some newcomers may not know they're able to receive a vaccine or could be sceptical about getting one due to mistrust or misinformation.
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