Still COVIDing Canada

Imaging shows significant lung injury in kids with long COVID

Published February 26, 2025

Published by: CIDRAP
Published on: February 26, 2025
By Stephanie Soucheray

Children and teens with long COVID have significant lung abnormalities detected with an advanced form of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), called free-breathing phase-resolved functional lung (PREFUL) MRI. The findings were published yesterday in Radiology.

Though chest scans are used to diagnose and monitor lung function of adults with long COVID, they are less commonly used on children with persistent symptoms after COVID-19, which is also called post-COVID condition (PCC). Lung perfusion, or how blood flows in and out of the lungs, can thus be hard to detect in pediatric patients.

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Ottawa-Gatineau

City of Ottawa to fly flag at half-mast March 11 marking lives lost to COVID-19

Published February 26, 2025

Published by: CTV News
Published on: February 26, 2025
By Ted Raymond

The City of Ottawa will be marking five years since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic with a flag-lowering in March.

The World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic on March 11, 2020, triggering a wave of public health measures and restrictions on populations in an attempt to stop the spread of the deadly virus.

More than 1,200 residents of Ottawa have died from COVID-19 according to public health statistics.

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Trump regime

Federal technology staffers resign rather than help Musk and DOGE

Published February 25, 2025

Published by: The Associated Press
Published on: February 25, 2025
By Brian Slodysko, Byron Tau

WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 20 civil service employees resigned Tuesday from billionaire Trump adviser Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, saying they were refusing to use their technical expertise to “dismantle critical public services.”

“We swore to serve the American people and uphold our oath to the Constitution across presidential administrations,” the 21 staffers wrote in a joint resignation letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press. “However, it has become clear that we can no longer honor those commitments.”

The employees also warned that many of those enlisted by Musk to help him slash the size of the federal government under President Donald Trump’s administration were political ideologues who did not have the necessary skills or experience for the task ahead of them.

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long COVID

Vaccinated kids at 57% to 73% lower risk of long COVID, CDC study suggests

Published February 25, 2025

Published by: CIDRAP
Published on: February 25, 2025
By Mary Van Beusekom

mRNA vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 was tied to a 57% and 73% lower risk of having at least one or two long-COVID symptoms, respectively, in US children ages 5 to 17 years, according to a case-control study led by researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The four-site study involved 622 children who were eligible for COVID-19 vaccination when they were infected with the Omicron variant and who completed a post-COVID condition (PCC) survey at least 60 days later. They were enrolled from the Pediatric Research Observing Trends and Exposures in COVID-19 Timelines (PROTECT) study, a longitudinal SARS-CoV-2 surveillance cohort convened in July 2021.

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long COVID

Lung abnormalities seen in children and teens with long COVID

Published February 25, 2025

Published by: Radiological Society of North America
Published on: February 25, 2025

OAK BROOK, Ill. – An advanced type of MRI uncovers significant lung abnormalities in children and adolescents with long COVID, according to a new study published today in Radiology, a journal of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

Post-COVID-19 condition, commonly known as long COVID, can affect individuals of all ages and is diagnosed when symptoms persist for more than 12 weeks after an initial COVID-19 infection. Children and adolescents typically experience a milder form of the condition, but common symptoms such as chronic fatigue, headaches and poor concentration can negatively impact school performance and social activities.

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Trump regime

Trump administration yanks CDC flu vaccine campaign

Published February 20, 2025

Published by: NPR
Published on: February 20, 2025
By Will Stone

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is stopping a successful flu vaccination campaign that juxtaposed images of wild animals, such as a lion, with cute counterparts, like a kitten, as an analogy for how immunization can help tame the flu.

The news was shared with staff during a meeting on Wednesday, according to two CDC staffers who spoke with NPR on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, and a recording reviewed by NPR.

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Four more measles cases confirmed in Norfolk County and Brant County

Colourized transmission electron micrograph of a measles virus particle (gold), with a purple background. Photo: CDC and NIAID. Licensed under Creative Commons CC BY 2.0 DEED Attribution 2.0 Generic license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Ontario

Four more measles cases confirmed in Norfolk County and Brant County

Published February 20, 2025

Published by: CTV News
Published on: February 20, 2025
By Shelby Knox

The Grand Erie Public Health Unit is investigating four new cases of measles.

In a news release on Thursday, the health unit said the latest cases were identified in Norfolk County and Brant County.

Two of the recently ill people are recovering in hospital while the other two are at home.

Thursday’s update brings the total number of confirmed illnesses to 57, nine of which have occurred among adults and 48 within children.

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vaccines

U.S. hasn’t sent essential seasonal flu data to WHO ahead of key vaccine meeting

Published February 20, 2025

Published by: CBC News
Published on: February 20, 2025
By Amina Zafar

Seasonal flu vaccines need to be updated each year because the virus changes so frequently. But the U.S. hasn’t contributed its information on what’s spreading there since January, a World Health Organization (WHO) official said.

For seasonal influenza, which forced schools to shut down in some American states earlier this month, the data isn’t being shared, Dr. Wenqing Zhang, head of the WHO’s global influenza program, told journalists in a webinar on Wednesday.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) normally participate in global discussions hosted by WHO on influenza vaccinations twice a year.

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British Columbia

Additional measles case detected in B.C.‘s Lower Mainland: officials

Published February 19, 2025

Published by: CTV News
Published on: February 19, 2025
By Lisa Steacy

A second case of measles linked to a group that travelled to Southeast Asia has been identified in B.C.’s Lower Mainland, according to health officials.

The infected person lives in the Vancouver Coastal Health region and was on Air Canada Flight 66, which arrived at YVR on Feb. 11, said a statement from the health authority on Wednesday. The person was travelling in the same “party” as a Fraser Health region resident in whom measles was detected over the weekend.

People who were on the flight or who were in the international arrivals area of Vancouver’s airport between 7 and 9:30 a.m. on Feb. 11 may have been exposed, the notification from health officials said.

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avian flu

Canada buys 500,000 doses of H5N1 avian influenza vaccine for those most at risk

Published February 19, 2025

Published by: CBC News
Published on: February 19, 2025
By Amina Zafar

The Public Health Agency of Canada said Wednesday it’s purchased 500,000 doses of a human vaccine to protect against avian influenza for those most at risk from being exposed to the virus by infected animals.

The agency said it secured the initial supply of GSK’s Arepanrix H5N1 A/America vaccine by leveraging an existing agreement.

“While the current risk to the public remains low, individuals with higher-level exposure to infected animals are at increased risk and should take appropriate precautions,” the agency said in a statement.

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Trump regime

Watch Out. The Plague Years Start Now

Published February 19, 2025

Published by: The Tyee
Published on: February 19, 2025
By Crawford Kilian

Since the inauguration of Donald Trump on Jan. 20, the greatest health sciences organizations in the world have been first silenced, then frozen or outright destroyed. The scale, speed and stupidity of the destruction have been breathtaking.

The Trump regime is doing this to its own people, especially those in states that voted for Trump, but the shock is being felt around the world.

It is a safe prediction that Trump’s attack on health science will result in the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives. And millions of lives will be diminished.

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rapid tests

U.S. reverses plan to shut down free covid test program

Published February 18, 2025

Published by: The Washington Post
Published on: February 18, 2025
By Lena H. Sun, Carolyn Y. Johnson

The government had been preparing to shut down the program that ships free coronavirus tests to American households and was considering destroying 160 million tests.

The Trump administration reversed a plan to shut down the government website that ships free coronavirus tests to households late Tuesday, after The Washington Post reported that the administration was preparing to end the program and was evaluating the costs of destroying or disposing of tens of millions of tests.

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long COVID

New research from Northwestern Medicine reveals link between long COVID and eye health

Published February 18, 2025

Published by: Northwestern Medicine
Published on: February 18, 2025

How much can the eyes reveal about a person? A first-of-its-kind study from Northwestern Medicine and published in the Journal of Imaging is giving experts an idea how long COVID affects the body by looking through the eyes. The research could help doctors diagnose and track how the condition impacts people over time and provide insight into the cause of long COVID.

In the study, researchers used advanced imaging techniques to examine the retinas of non-hospitalized long COVID patients from the Northwestern Medicine Neuro COVID-19 Clinic and found that patients with long COVID experienced a significant reduction in the density of blood vessels in the back of the eye, compared to healthy individuals.

“This finding bridges gaps between ophthalmology, neurology, and COVID-19, helping us better understand how inflammation affects different organs in the body,” said Manjot K. Gill, MD, senior author of the study and ophthalmology lead of the Northwestern Medicine Comprehensive COVID-19 Center. “The change in blood vessels in the deep part of the retina supports the hypothesis that long COVID affects similar blood vessels in other parts of the body, like the brain, which can potentially contribute to the symptoms of long COVID such as memory loss, brain fog and fatigue.”

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kakistocracy

CDC cuts expected to devastate Epidemic Intelligence Service, a ‘crown jewel’ of public health

Published February 14, 2025

Published by: STAT
Published on: February 14, 2025
By Helen Branswell

The Trump administration’s campaign to slash the federal civil service hit one of the crown jewels of global public health on Friday. Members of the Epidemic Intelligence Service, a legendary training program run by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, were warned on Friday morning that they were about to be fired, two people with knowledge of the meeting told STAT.

The 135 members of the two-year program were informed that many would be hearing of their dismissals by late in the day. But by late Friday afternoon, none had yet received a notice of their firing, one of the sources said.

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Hamilton Region

Confirmed case of measles in Hamilton area child: public health

Published February 14, 2025

Published by: CTV News
Published on: February 14, 2025
By Laura Sebben

The City of Hamilton says it is investigating a confirmed case of measles.

Hamilton Public Health (HPH) says the confirmed case is tied to a Hamilton area child and they are investigating several local exposures.

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Urgent CDC Data and Analyses on Influenza and Bird Flu Go Missing as Outbreaks Escalate

Colourized transmission electron micrograph of three avian influenza virus particles (pink), with teal blue background. Photo: CDC and NIAID.

avian flu

Urgent CDC Data and Analyses on Influenza and Bird Flu Go Missing as Outbreaks Escalate

Published February 14, 2025

Published by: KFF Health News
Published on: February 14, 2025
By Amy Maxmen

Sonya Stokes, an emergency room physician in the San Francisco Bay Area, braces herself for a daily deluge of patients sick with coughs, soreness, fevers,…

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Ontario

11 new measles cases confirmed: Grand Erie Public Health

Published February 13, 2025

Published by: Brantford Expositor
Published on: February 13, 2025
By Susan Gamble

Another 11 cases of measles have been confirmed by Grand Erie Public Health, bringing the total cases to 48 in the Brantford/Brant, Haldimand/Norfolk area.

One person is recovering in hospital, according to a news release, and the health unit is busy trying to contact those who may have been exposed to that person but the infection source is “unknown at this time.”

The cases involve 42 children and six adults. There are another 19 cases known in the Southwestern Public Health area.

A spokesperson for the Grand Erie health agency said all but one of the cases is from the Haldimand-Norfolk area, with just one case in Brantford-Brant.

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kakistocracy

Scientists React to RFK, Jr.’s Confirmation as HHS Secretary

Published February 13, 2025

Published by: Scientific American / Nature
Published on: February 13, 2025
By Amanda Heidt, Heidi Ledford

The future of America as a superpower in research appears grim. Even on issues he claims he supports, he does not follow scientific evidence. Picking a person like this to lead is like having the wolf guard the sheep.

— Theodora Hatziioannou, a virologist at the Rockefeller University in New York City

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The government had been preparing to shut down the program that ships free coronavirus tests to American households and was considering destroying 160 million tests.

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