Infectious Illness Sweeps Canada Evacuation Center After Wildfire

[Eugene]

Source: ABC News

Infectious Illness Sweeps Canada Evacuation Center After Wildfire

By MALORIE SIMONSJULIE BARZILAY
May 9, 2016, 4:14 PM ET

One of the evacuation centers for the wildfires blazing through the Fort McMurray area in Alberta, Canada, has become the epicenter of another crisis: a stomach bug that has made almost 50 people ill within the past 48 hours, authorities said today.

In the Northland Expo Center, one of seven evacuation sites in the region, officials are trying to identify the illness that is spreading, but Dr. Chris Sikora said during a news conference today that the cases “seem to be viral gastroenteritis,” and that people are suffering from “nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.” Sikora is the senior medical officer of health in Edmonton.

The wildfire in Fort McMurray started one week ago, and today there are over 600 people taking shelter in the Northland Expo Center, according to Kerry Williamson, senior media relations adviser for Edmonton at Alberta Health Services.

“Most of the time the fires burn (in areas) without a lot of people,” Williamson said. “This one was the largest one they have seen in Alberta’s history.”

The confined spaces and close quarters that characterize evacuation centers can be a recipe for disaster when it comes to containing the spread of infectious illnesses such as norovirus.

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Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/infectious-illness-sweeps-canada-evacuation-center-wildfire/story?id=38991432

[Laurian]

1. Wow, misery upon misery. n/t

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. Ok this is the kind of crap I was trained to prevent

because it is a known issue in disaster management. Did anybody forget the soap and water when they packed the water and food? I am not being fascitious, This just boggles the mind, that a first world country is facing what we used to deal with with some ease. And some is the operative word here. You need to enforce things like washing hands...