Infectious Diseases

Wendy Vaudry Working Wonders — Pediatric infectious diseases specialist Wendy Vaudry (second from right) and nurses Barbara Neufeld (far left) and Christine Bon (far right), discuss research with participant Larissa Hamilton and her father Don. Larissa received early vaccination to study an immunization protocol for cancer survivors. Click the photo to learn more.

What is Pediatric Infectious Diseases?

This specialty involves seeing children who have infections that are difficult to diagnose, difficult to treat, or keep recurring.

Unique highlights

The Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases provides inpatient consultation and outpatient multidisciplinary care to children who require specialized pediatric services at the Stollery Children's Hospital. These children are primarily from northern Alberta and the western Canadian Arctic but children requiring heart surgery or a solid organ transplant from the other western provinces are also admitted to the Stollery Children's Hospital.

Expertise in infectious diseases is essential in the management of many children in the community who are seriously ill, have unusual infections, have acquired infections while outside of Canada, either as travellers or new immigrants, or have other diseases that put them at increased risk of infection.

The division works closely with all divisions of the Stollery Children's Hospital at all of its geographic sites including the Pediatric and Neonatal ICUs, Emergency, Cardiac, Surgical, Oncology and General Pediatric wards. As well, a timely outpatient referral service is available for both in person consultation or by telephone for physicians in the referral area.

Research

All divisional members are involved in research. Primary focuses include:

infection control
global health with a focus on malaria and pneumonia
respiratory syncytial virus and other respiratory viruses
bacteremia
vaccine preventable infections
vaccine adverse events
transplant infections
congenital infections
surveillance for COVID-19

Clinical care

Our division sees primarily inpatients with suspected or proven infections, many of whom have had transplants or have congenital heart disease. We direct Infection Control Services at the Stollery Children's Hospital. We also run outpatient clinics for children exposed to or infected with human immunodeficiency virus and for children referred by general pediatricians or family physicians with a wide variety of possible or proven infections.

Education

Infectious Diseases Residency Program