There are certain phrases that Wachuka Gichohi finds difficult to hear after enduring four years of living with long COVID, marked by debilitating fatigue, pain,…
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Topic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID
Long Covid could cost the economy billions every year
Working days lost to long Covid could be costing the economy billions of pounds every year as patients struggle to cope with symptoms and return to work, finds a new study led by UCL researchers.
Comments closedTopic: avian fluView all posts for the topic: avian flu
Canadian teen’s bird flu infection is not the version found in cows
A Canadian teenager who is in critical condition after contracting H5N1 bird flu was infected with a version of the virus that is different from the one circulating in dairy cattle in the United States, Canadian authorities announced Wednesday.
The National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg confirmed the infection was indeed caused by the H5N1 virus. But genetic sequencing showed that it is of a genotype that has been found in wild birds, not the version that has been circulating in dairy cattle in the U.S.
Comments closedTopic: avian fluView all posts for the topic: avian flu
Testing confirms B.C. teen infected with Canada’s first human case of avian flu
Federal health officials have confirmed that a B.C. teen who is currently in hospital has Canada’s first human case of H5N1 avian flu.
Testing at the national microbiology labaratory in Winnipeg confirmed the case Wednesday, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada.
Comments closedTopic: avian fluView all posts for the topic: avian flu
Avoid contact with sick or dead birds, health officials urge, amid concerns about avian flu
Carolyn Law didn’t think much of it when a snow goose landed in her Richmond, B.C., backyard, on Halloween.
But hours later it had barely moved. Then it started bobbing its head repeatedly. About eight hours after she first saw the bird, it rolled over, began convulsing and died.
Comments closedTopic: New ZealandView all posts for the topic: New Zealand
The NZ government’s plan to withhold COVID inquiry findings until 2026 leaves the country ill-prepared for the next pandemic
The first report from a Royal Commission of Inquiry to review New Zealand’s response to the COVID pandemic was due to be released this month.
But the coalition government plans to withhold it, potentially until a second phase of the inquiry (with a new set of questions and commissioners) can be completed in 2026.
Comments closedTopic: avian fluView all posts for the topic: avian flu
Canadian teen with suspected avian flu in critical condition
A British Columbia (BC) teen from the Fraser Health region who was hospitalized with an earlier announced presumptive positive H5 avian flu infection is in critical condition, the province’s top health official said today.
In a media briefing streamed live on Canada’s Global News, Bonnie Henry, MD, BC’s health officer, shared the latest investigation findings, noting that the patient’s symptoms began on November 2, and he or she was seen that day at a hospital emergency room. She said initial symptoms included conjunctivitis, fever, and cough.
Comments closedTopic: avian fluView all posts for the topic: avian flu
B.C. teen with bird flu is in critical condition, says Dr. Bonnie Henry
B.C.’s provincial health officer says the teenager who has tested positive for bird flu is in critical condition in B.C. Children’s Hospital.
Dr. Bonnie Henry says the teenager, who has the first presumptive human case of bird flu contracted in Canada, was admitted to hospital late Friday. B.C. tests last week confirmed the teenager has the virus, but are waiting confirmation from a national laboratory in Winnipeg.
Comments closedTopic: Trump regimeView all posts for the topic: Trump regime
Experts Share What Another Trump Presidency Could Mean For Your Health
Comments closedDuring his last time in office, Trump botched the pandemic response, he spread misinformation everywhere, he contributed to restricting access to reproductive health care, he tried to repeal [the Affordable Care Act] and he set the world back on climate action. For me, it’s extremely worrying to have someone in charge with such a poor track record on health and science.
Topic: avian fluView all posts for the topic: avian flu
B.C. investigating 1st presumptive human avian flu case in Canada
British Columbia health officials are investigating what’s believed to be Canada’s first human case of avian influenza after a teenager tested presumptively positive for the disease, the Ministry of Health announced Saturday.
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First-ever human case of H5 avian influenza in Canada found in B.C.: officials
B.C. health officials say they have detected Canada’s first-ever case of H5 avian influenza in a human.
In a news release Saturday afternoon, the office of the provincial health officer said a positive test for the H5 influenza virus was performed at the B.C. Centre for Disease Control’s public health laboratory.
Comments closedTopic: New BrunswickView all posts for the topic: New Brunswick
‘A bit disappointing’: How many NBers have gotten new COVID, flu shots
Just over 52,000 New Brunswickers have received the latest COVID-19 vaccine, and more than 91,000 have received this year’s flu shot since they became available on Oct. 3, according to the government.
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RFK Jr. is crowdsourcing reams of nominees for Trump’s health administration
Between now and Inauguration Day, President-elect Donald Trump and his allies will have the Herculean task of appointing 4,000 people to staff his administration. Trump campaign surrogate and “Make America Healthy Again” flagbearer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. seems positioned to exert broad influence on who will run the nation’s health-related agencies. He’s already begun soliciting nominees — albeit in an unconventional way.
Comments closedTopic: avian fluView all posts for the topic: avian flu
Wastewater testing for avian influenza to begin in some Ontario communities
As bird flu infections continue to rise among livestock and humans in the United States, surveillance is ramping up in Canada.
Wastewater testing for the H5N1 bird flu virus is set to begin in the coming weeks in Ontario communities considered at high risk, said Rob Delatolla, whose University of Ottawa lab will lead the wastewater surveillance as part of a research program based at the University of Guelph. That will likely mean testing wastewater in communities in agricultural regions of the province. It is unclear whether there will also be testing in larger cities.
Comments closedTopic: AustraliaView all posts for the topic: Australia
A spike in COVID deaths has driven a decline in Australian life expectancy for the second year running
Australian life expectancy has gone backwards for the second year straight after a surge in COVID-19 deaths in 2022.
An Australian girl born today is expected to live to 85.1 years, and a boy to 81.1 years.
Australians still have the fourth-highest life expectancy in the world after Japanese, Swiss and Koreans.
Comments closedTopic: avian fluView all posts for the topic: avian flu
CDC expands avian flu testing for farm workers, notes 7% infection rate in those exposed to infected cows
An eagerly anticipated serology study in farm workers exposed to H5N1-infected dairy cattle shows that 7% had antibodies suggesting prior infection, findings that today triggered enhanced testing, prophylactic (preventive) treatment, and use of personal protective equipment (PPE) from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Comments closedTopic: OntarioView all posts for the topic: Ontario
She helped thousands get COVID-19 shots. Now she’s on the hook for $600K
A Kingston, Ont., doctor celebrated for organizing drive-thru vaccination clinics that helped thousands get shots at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic is now being ordered to pay back more than $600,000 in fees for those same services.
Dr. Elaine Ma said she organized 45 mass vaccination clinics that administered roughly 35,000 doses between April 2021 and the following February.
Her work was recognized by the Ontario College of Family Physicians, which granted her its Award of Excellence in 2021, in part pointing to Ma’s role in boosting local vaccination rates.
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