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.
Comments closedA 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.
Comments closedThe 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.
Comments closedSince 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.
Comments closedThe 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.
Comments closedAnother 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.
Comments closedThe call to Angela Rasmussen came out of the blue and posed a troubling question. Had she heard the rumour that key data sets would be removed from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website the next day?
It’s something Rasmussen had thought could never happen.
“It had never really been thought of before that CDC would actually start deleting some of these crucial public health data sets,” said the University of Saskatchewan virologist. “These data are really, really important for everybody’s health — not just in the U.S. but around the world.”
The following day, Jan. 31, Rasmussen started to see data disappear. She knew she needed to take action.
Comments closedWith province[s] now responsible for purchasing COVID-19 vaccines, the Government of Saskatchewan says it’s figuring out what the coming flu season response will be.
The federal government announced in early January that it would stop funding COVID-19 vaccines this year, with provinces and territories now responsible for buying, determining the timing and rollout of the vaccinations.
Comments closedLast week the province of Alberta published a report on its pandemic-response calling for COVID vaccines to be restricted to “high-risk groups” and to stop “their use in healthy children and teenagers.” A mix of vaccine skeptics, fringe academics, and a Trump-appointee were behind it.
The report also recommends regulators, namely the province’s medical licensing body, be stripped of powers to discipline doctors who promote risky and ineffective off-label treatments.
The report has garnered nationwide criticism from the scientific and medical communities, with dozens of experts calling on the government to officially dismiss the report in an open letter. Dr. Joss Reimer, president of the Canadian Medical Association, said the report was “an unfortunate use of public dollars” that funneled CAD$2,000,000 into furthering misinformation. She said it will cause harm globally, as it will be referenced in jurisdictions outside of Canada.
Comments closedComments closedWhile international travel was the initial source of these outbreaks, all the people with recent measles infections were exposed to the virus in Canada.
The majority of measles cases reported in Canada occur among unvaccinated people, many of whom are children and include infants under the age of one who are more vulnerable and have not yet had the opportunity to be vaccinated… that is why we need to remain vigilant and I recommend that we keep up-to-date with the recommended vaccinations.
Public health officials said they are now dealing with a measles outbreak in southwestern Ontario, with 19 confirmed cases as of Jan. 29.
Southwestern Public Health, which covers Oxford County, Elgin County and the City of St. Thomas, is reporting three cases of the highly contagious disease in children.
The remaining 16 infections are with Grand Erie Public Health, which serves the City of Brantford, Brant County, Haldimand County and Norfolk County. In an update Friday, officials said thirteen children and three adults have measles.
Comments closedFalse narratives in a new $2-million report on COVID 19 in Alberta send Albertans the wrong signals, said a former chief medical officer of health for the province.
An adjunct professor at the University of Alberta’s School of Public Health, Dr. James Talbot said the 269-page report released late last Friday cherry-picks information and includes unproven ideas, including that the vaccine is ineffective and potentially harmful.
“We’ve given literally billions of doses of this vaccine around the world with the best surveillance we’ve ever had. This is one of the safest, most effective vaccines that we’ve ever had,” he said.
Comments closedThe Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO) at the University of Saskatchewan has been awarded a $24 million grant to help develop a vaccine to protect against wide-ranging strains of coronaviruses.
VIDO’s funding flows from Norwegian-based Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) into its ongoing development of its pan-sarbecovirus vaccine.
Comments closedComments closedI think it was a waste of time. It was a waste of money. And under no circumstances should the recommendations be implemented until there’s been a full and expert public discussion of the report.
Public Service Confidential is a workplace advice column for federal public servants. The following question has been edited for clarity and length.
I am an immunocompromised federal public servant with multiple chronic illnesses. I still work from home, but HR wants me back in the office three days a week the moment they can give me a private office beside the bathroom. My doctor wrote a letter to counter the accommodation, saying it’s not appropriate and even less beside a bathroom with the shared environment, and it could put my life at risk of getting sick with complications. So I am fighting to keep my full-time telework agreement.
Comments closedAn Alberta government task force has recommended that the use of COVID-19 vaccines be halted unless more information is provided about risk, in a report rife with suggestions that run counter to mainstream scientific consensus.
The $2-million task force’s final report, released Friday, touched on several points common with disinformation campaigns such as the effectiveness of public health restrictions and masking, while also recommending some government authority over media.
Comments closedConfirmed cases of measles have now been reported at two public health units in southern Ontario.
Grand Erie Public Health said nine people have the highly contagious virus.
Of those, three are children and the remaining six are adults.
Only one of those cases is in Brantford-Brant, while the other eight are in Haldimand County and Norfolk County.
Southwestern Public Health, which covers Oxford County, Elgin County and St. Thomas, confirmed Thursday they have one active case. Officials believe it is likely connected to those reported by Grand Erie Public Health.
Comments closedSaskatchewan’s Ministry of Health has enough COVID-19 vaccine doses for the province’s high-risk population this spring, but would not confirm whether it plans to purchase more doses in the future.
The province has more than 100,000 doses, all of which were provided through the federal government’s procurement process.
Ottawa has been paying for the shots and distributing them across the country since they became available. Earlier this month, the Public Health Agency of Canada quietly announced that practice would come to an end.
Comments closed
