Lyme disease: no worries for the Montreal Regional Department of Public Health



[ad_1]

Lyme disease spreads like wildfire in many parts of Quebec, forcing public health authorities to act. In Montreal, however, the Regional Directorate of Public Health (DRSP) is not ready to sound the alarm.

The DRSP received this year nearly forty unconfirmed reports of Lyme disease on the Montreal territory, with an increase in the last weeks. Only 12 cases of the disease, caused by the bite of a tick, however could be formalized. No way of knowing if these patients contracted the condition in Montreal

For the month of July, three cases have so far been confirmed out of a total of 20 Montreal statements. There is "no indication that the disease is progressing" compared to last year, according to Dr. Paul Le Guerrier, of the DRSP.

"Montreal is not an endemic region for Lyme disease, he recalled in an interview with Metro . I do not know where we're going because it's still early in the year. "

The figures received by the DRSP are similar to those of 2017, according to Dr. Le Guerrier. Last year, the organization counted 46 cases, two of which were "possibly acquired in Montreal". "It's not at all like what's happening in Montérégie and Estrie," said Le Guerrier

The tick causing the disease abounds in these two regions, Montérégie and Estrie, which respectively confirmed 19 and 24 cases of the disease. illness in 2018. Dr. Le Guerrier urged hikers to be cautious when venturing into these communities before returning to Montreal.

Prevention is better than cure
Since the end of this week, the Montérégie has allowed pharmacists in the region to distribute antibiotics to fight the disease. This measure has not yet been adopted on the Island of Montreal and there is no reason to believe that this will be the case, according to Dr. Le Guerrier.

"There are not enough cases of Lyme disease yet," he said to explain the decision. We do not have the necessary conditions to say that we absolutely need a collective order. "

Faced with this problem, which is still difficult to regulate, the DRSP wishes to adopt a" prevention "policy. It is advisable to regularly check for ticks on your dog's body and dog, and to react quickly to warning signs, such as the appearance of redness. v, n, t, s) {if (f.fbq) return; n = f.fbq = function () {n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply (n arguments): n.queue.push (arguments)}; if f._fbq = n; (f._fbq!)
n.push = n; n.loaded = 0;! n.version = '2.0'; n.queue = []; t = b.createElement (e); t.async! = 0;
t.src = v; s = b.getElementsByTagName (e) [0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore (t, s)} (window,
document 'script', 'https: //connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js');
fbq ('init', '1270627113001552'); // Insert your pixel ID here.
fbq ('track', 'PageView');
[ad_2]
Source link