Researchers are now embarking on a new study aimed at learning more about the most common infections that send children to the emergency department most often in Canada.
The province has established the Alberta Provincial Pediatric Enteric Infection Team (APPETITE) and tasked them with a new $5M study to bring together Alberta’s top health care leaders, clinicians, and scientists to investigate bugs that cause intestinal infections in children.
Children fall victim to at least two of these sicknesses on average, every year.
Dr. Stephen Freedman, a clinician scientist at the Alberta Children’s Hospital, says that vomiting and diarrhea are among the most common reasons children are brought to the emergency room. “These symptoms are extremely worrisome to parents and can, on occasion, lead to life-threatening conditions.”
The goal of the study is to determine the frequency of the viral and bacterial germs and find out a way to simplify diagnosis and better direct vaccine development policy.
