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Tag: measles

Topic: wastewater monitoringView all posts for the topic: wastewater monitoring

The Secret Weapon in Canada’s Sewers

As America takes an axe to its health data, expanding wastewater surveillance could save lives

Published February 2, 2026

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: Maclean’s
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By Eric Arts

As a virologist, I spend my days thinking about how to detect outbreaks of coronaviruses, mpox, West Nile and other pathogens early enough to stop them. Right now, I’m concerned about Canada’s awful flu season and the fact that we recently lost our measles-elimination status. But mostly, I’m terrified of what’s unfolding south of the border.

The consequences of the Trump administration’s cuts to the CDC and NIH will extend far beyond America. Those agencies form the backbone of North America’s infectious-disease surveillance. They track variants, monitor cross-border spread and feed data into global systems coordinated by the World Health Organization, helping everyone on Earth prepare. When those programs are dismantled, Canada loses key warning signs of influenza, RSV, measles and whatever diseases are coming next.

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Topic: measlesView all posts for the topic: measles

European countries including U.K. lose measles elimination status

Published January 26, 2026

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Published by: CTV News / Reuters
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LONDON – Britain and several other European countries have lost their measles elimination status, the World Health Organization said on Monday, after a jump in infections across the continent.

Spain, Austria, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan also lost their status, and the WHO urged countries to boost vaccination rates, particularly among under-protected populations, to prevent the viral disease infecting more children.

Measles is entirely preventable by vaccination, but is very contagious, and so is among the first illnesses to rebound when vaccination rates decline. It commonly causes symptoms including high fever and a rash, but can also lead to serious long-term complications and even death.

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Topic: indoor air qualityView all posts for the topic: indoor air quality

Schools have become cesspools for cold and flu, but they don’t have to be: Ontario School Safety

Published December 21, 2025

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: CityNews
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By Rachel Morgan

The volunteer-led organization Ontario School Safety is renewing calls to the Ontario government to improve indoor air quality in schools.

The call comes as Ontario sees a rapid increase in cases of the flu, particularly impacting young children.

In April, 2021, the Government of Ontario announced it was investing over $130 million, in addition to funds from the Canadian government, to upgrade school infrastructure to protect children from COVID-19. The majority of this funding was earmarked for ventilation projects to improve indoor air quality.

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Topic: vaccinesView all posts for the topic: vaccines

Most Canadians still confident in vaccines, but hesitancy has increased, poll says

Published December 17, 2025

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Published by: The Canadian Press
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By Nicole Ireland

TORONTO – A new poll says that about three-quarters of Canadian adults still have confidence in vaccines, but hesitancy has increased over the last five years.

The survey conducted by Leger Healthcare and released on Tuesday says 74 per cent of respondents said they were either “very confident” (42 per cent) or “somewhat confident” (32 per cent) in the safety and effectiveness of vaccines.

But about a quarter of respondents said they are less confident than they were before.

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Topic: Trump regimeView all posts for the topic: Trump regime

Health minister says she worries about U.S. public health decisions harming Canadians

U.S. panel voted to remove universal hepatitis B vaccine recommendations for infants

Published December 13, 2025

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Published by: CBC News
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By Benjamin Lopez Steven

Health Minister Marjorie Michel says she worries about how recent actions by U.S. public health agencies, like removing a universal hepatitis B vaccine recommendation for American infants, could hurt Canadians’ health.

“It’s a big worry for me,” Michel said in an interview on CBC’s The House that airs Saturday morning. “The U.S. is our closest neighbour. And it’s a big neighbour.”

“It’s absolutely crucial to work with provinces and territories to be all on the same page, for example, on vaccination,” Michel told host Catherine Cullen.

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Topic: measlesView all posts for the topic: measles

Alberta government rejected expert advice to report probable measles cases, documents show

Published December 6, 2025

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Published by: The Globe and Mail
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By Alanna Smith

The Alberta government rejected expert advice to expand public reporting of measles to include probable cases, despite the measure being supported by local and provincial public health officials, documents obtained by The Globe and Mail show.

Since the outbreak began in Alberta last spring, only confirmed cases of measles have been publicly reported. New data provided through a Freedom of Information request show at least 450 probable cases of measles have also been identified in the province, bringing the total to nearly 2,500.

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Topic: measlesView all posts for the topic: measles

Measles outbreak in Arizona and Utah could spell the end for U.S. elimination status

Published November 19, 2025

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Published by: NBC News
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By Aria Bendix, Erika Edwards

A measles outbreak in Arizona and Utah shows no sign of slowing, putting the United States dangerously close to losing its elimination status for the vaccine-preventable disease.

With holiday travel and gatherings approaching, doctors worry that transmission could escalate. If measles continues to spread through Jan. 20, that will mark a year of sustained transmission in the United States. At that point, the disease would no longer be considered eliminated and it would instead revert to being endemic, or constantly present.

The backward step seems highly likely.

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Topic: AlbertaView all posts for the topic: Alberta

Alberta doctors call for regular access to vaccines in children’s hospitals to combat low immunization rates

Published November 17, 2025

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Published by: CBC News
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By Jennifer Lee

Some Alberta pediatricians say making childhood immunizations routinely available in pediatric hospitals could help improve slumping vaccination rates in the province.

But the Alberta government is closing the door on that idea, saying children’s hospitals are under significant pressure, and it’s taking other steps to improve access.

Dr. Sam Wong, president of the section of pediatrics with the Alberta Medical Association, said he and his colleagues have been advocating for this change for several years.

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Topic: measlesView all posts for the topic: measles

Canada loses measles elimination status — as does the entire Americas region

Published November 10, 2025

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Published by: STAT
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By Helen Branswell

Canada has formally lost its measles elimination status, the country’s public health agency announced Monday, meaning all of the Americas have lost that status as well.

The decision, which was widely expected, comes after a meeting last week where an expert committee of the Pan American Health Organization determined that a large measles outbreak that began in Canada in October 2024 was still ongoing, more than 12 months after it started.

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Topic: measlesView all posts for the topic: measles

Canada officially loses its measles elimination status

Published November 10, 2025

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Published by: The Globe and Mail
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By Alanna Smith, Kristy Kirkup

Canada has been stripped of its measles elimination status after failing to interrupt transmission within one year of an outbreak that continues to spread in parts of the country.

The Public Health Agency of Canada said Monday it was notified by The Pan American Health Organization, a regional arm of the World Health Organization, that Canada lost its designation – an accomplishment it held for 27 years.

“While transmission has slowed recently, the outbreak has persisted for over 12 months, primarily within under-vaccinated communities,” the statement said.

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Topic: measlesView all posts for the topic: measles

Canada loses its measles elimination status

Published November 10, 2025

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Published by: Radio-Canada
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By Mélanie Meloche-Holubowski

The Pan American Health Organization has informed the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) that Canada no longer has the status of a country that has eliminated measles, due to an outbreak that has been ongoing for more than one year.

This status indicates that there is no continuous transmission of the disease for 12 months or more in a given geographical area.

“Despite considerable efforts by Canada, the country has lost its status. Measles is now considered to be endemic in this country,” PAHO director Dr. Jason Barbosa told a news conference.

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Topic: measlesView all posts for the topic: measles

Canada’s status as a country without endemic measles can now be revoked

Published October 27, 2025

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Published by: CTV News / The Canadian Press
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By Nicole Ireland

TORONTO — Canada is poised to lose its international status as a measles-free country now that an outbreak that began in New Brunswick and spread to other provinces has hit the one-year mark.

The country eliminated measles in 1998 and maintained that status for more than 25 years, meaning there was no ongoing community transmission and new cases were travel-related.

But since Oct. 27, 2024, the virus has spread to more than 5,000 people in Canada, including two infants in Ontario and Alberta who were infected with measles in the womb and died after they were born.

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Topic: TorontoView all posts for the topic: Toronto

Toronto to develop wastewater surveillance program for FIFA World Cup

Published October 17, 2025

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Published by: The Canadian Press
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By Hannah Alberga

TORONTO – Toronto Public Health is developing a wastewater surveillance program to detect any potential spread of diseases during the FIFA World Cup.

Toronto’s new Medical Officer of Health Dr. Michelle Murti said the pilot will collect sewage samples in areas where fans congregate and test them for infections such as COVID-19, influenza and RSV.

Murti said the public health unit is looking into whether other illnesses, such as measles, could also be monitored in wastewater given the large international audience expected next summer.

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Topic: OntarioView all posts for the topic: Ontario

Ontario declares measles outbreak over after nearly a year of spread

Published October 9, 2025

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Published by: CBC / The Canadian Press
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By Nicole Ireland

Ontario’s measles outbreak, which sickened more than 2,300 people over the course of nearly a year, highlighted the consequences of declining vaccination rates and led to the death of a newborn, has been declared over.

Public Health Ontario and the province’s top doctor said Thursday the outbreak ended on Monday because it had been 46 days since any new reported cases — twice the maximum incubation period for measles.

“In Ontario, the last confirmed case developed a rash on August 21, 2025, following several months of steadily declining case numbers,” Dr. Kieran Moore, the province’s chief medical officer of health, said in an emailed statement.

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Topic: OntarioView all posts for the topic: Ontario

COVID vaccine still free in Ontario as chief medical officer calls for action to combat skepticism, mistrust

Published September 26, 2025

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Published by: Ottawa Citizen
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By Elizabeth Payne

When Ontario rolls out its fall vaccination campaign at pharmacies, doctor’s offices and clinics across the province in the coming weeks, it will be bucking a trend.

At a time when both Alberta and Quebec have stopped funding COVID vaccines for the general public, limiting them to higher risk populations, and access to COVID vaccines is becoming limited in the United States, Ontario is moving in another direction.

The fall vaccination campaign, beginning in October, includes free access to an updated COVID-19 vaccine for the general public as well as expanded access to a vaccine to prevent RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) for older adults, and the flu vaccine.

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Topic: anti-vaxxersView all posts for the topic: anti-vaxxers

Viewpoint: Four tips for understanding this week’s ACIP meeting

Published September 15, 2025

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Published by: CIDRAP
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By Vaccine Integrity Project Staff and Advisers

The last meeting of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) in June abandoned the use of its rigorous evidence-to-recommendation framework for making vaccine policy decisions, which structures decisions around key factors, including the balance of benefits and harms, the type or quality of evidence and health economic analyses, among other elements. The meeting also included new members making inaccurate statements about both vaccine safety and efficacy and included a presentation by a well-known anti-vaccine advocate that was filled with errors.

Now, the committee is set to include even more vaccine skeptics when it meets later this week, according to published reports, including multiple anti–COVID mRNA vaccine activists. (On Monday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) confirmed five new ACIP members.)

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Topic: anti-vaxxersView all posts for the topic: anti-vaxxers

Video | How Trump’s cuts to the CDC could threaten Canadians’ public health

Published September 13, 2025

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Published by: CBC News
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The U.S. Centers for Disease Control has long been a global leader in disease tracking and evidence-based medical guidelines, but recent funding cuts and firings have caused many to wonder whether the institution is still a trusted source. CBC’s Nisha Patel breaks down how some of those changes could put Canadians at risk.

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Topic: war on scienceView all posts for the topic: war on science

Florida plans to become first state to eliminate all childhood vaccine mandates

Published September 3, 2025

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Published by: The Associated Press
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By Curt Anderson

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Florida plans to become the first state to eliminate vaccine mandates, a longtime cornerstone of public health policy for keeping schoolchildren and adults safe from infectious diseases.

State Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo, who announced the decision Wednesday, cast current requirements in schools and elsewhere as “immoral” intrusions on people’s rights that hamper parents’ ability to make health decisions for their children.

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