Serious bacterial infections causing pneumonia, meningitis on the rise in Alberta

Experts are watching closely as cases of invasive pneumococcal disease rise in Alberta.

The potentially life-threatening illness is caused by bacteria known as Streptococcus pneumoniae, which often strike after viral illnesses.

These bacteria — including 100 different variations — can live in the respiratory tract, in many cases triggering no symptoms at all. In their milder form they can cause problems such as middle-ear infections.

But when they invade normally germ-free parts of the body, and become invasive, people can develop pneumonia, meningitis and sepsis.

"At all age groups there's been an increase in the cases and an increase in the rate of cases to the highest levels that I've ever seen," said Dr. Jim Kellner, a University of Calgary infectious diseases specialist who's been studying invasive pneumococcal disease patterns in Calgary since 1998.

"It's a concern to see the kind of numbers that that we've seen. We expected to see big numbers last year. The sustained big numbers this year are a concern."

Provincial data shows cases of invasive pneumococcal disease jumped to 812 last year from 481 in 2018, with a drop in 2020 and 2021 which doctors attribute to pandemic-related restrictions.

The trend comes at the same time as rates of invasive group A strep also rise in Canada.

Hospitalizations for invasive pneumococcal disease jumped to 681 from 398 over the same five-year period and the number of deaths increased to 62 from 42.

Hospitalization and death rates per population are on the rise too, according to numbers provided by Alberta Health.

While the vast majority of severe cases reported last year were in adults, 44 of the 681 people hospitalized in 2023 were under the age of 18 and two children died.

"It's worrisome anytime we see increases in numbers of infectious diseases," said Dr. Sam Wong, a pediatrician at Edmonton's Stollery Children's Hospital and president of the section of pediatrics with the Alberta Medical Association.

Wong has treated several children over the last few weeks who've ended up in the ICU after developing pneumonia with large collections of fluid around their lungs requiring a chest tube.

"Draining over a litre of fluid from a five year old kid — that's a large volume. Then they decompensate and they end up having to be intubated and require ventiliation support as well as blood pressure support."