Tag: outbreaks

Measles outbreak declared in southwestern Ontario

Published by: CTV News
Published on: January 29, 2025
By Jennifer K. Baker

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.

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avian flu

‘A Dangerous Virus’: Bird Flu Enters a New Phase

Published January 27, 2025

Published by: The New York Times
Published on: January 27, 2025
By Apoorva Mandavilli

When bird flu first struck dairy cattle a year ago, it seemed possible that it might affect a few isolated herds and disappear as quickly as it had appeared.

Instead, the virus has infected more than 900 herds and dozens of people, killing one, and the outbreak shows no signs of abating.

A human pandemic is not inevitable, even now, more than a dozen experts said in interviews. But a series of developments over the past few weeks indicates that the possibility is no longer remote.

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Ontario

10 confirmed measles cases in southern Ontario

Published January 23, 2025

Published by: CTV News
Published on: January 23, 2025
By Jennifer K. Baker, Krista Sharpe

Confirmed 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.

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measles

Quebec calls for vigilance following 11th case of measles

Published January 12, 2025

Published by: Radio-Canada / The Canadian Press
Published on: January 12, 2025

An eleventh case of measles has been reported in Quebec, the Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux (MSSS) announced on Sunday.

The government is urging the public to be extra cautious and to follow public health recommendations “due to the active circulation of measles in Quebec and the presence of several exposure sites in the Laurentides, Laval, Montréal and Montérégie regions,” the MSSS said in a press release.

The last infected person visited the Carrefour Laval during his/her contagious period on January 7.

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avian flu

B.C. teen with avian flu discharged after weeks in hospital

Published January 9, 2025

Published by: CTV News / The Canadian Press
Published on: January 9, 2025
By Hannah Alberga

BC Children’s Hospital says a 13-year-old girl with avian flu was discharged Tuesday after weeks in hospital.

The patient was taken to a pediatric intensive care unit with respiratory failure and pneumonia on Nov. 8 and health officials said she tested positive for H5N1 a day later.

A recent medical journal chronicled the teen’s hospitalization in Vancouver, which involved tracheal intubation and supplemental oxygen.

Her family says in a statement that the experience has been “life-changing” and that they are grateful to have their daughter home.

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avian flu

First Bird Flu Death in U.S. Reported in Louisiana

Published January 6, 2025

Published by: The New York Times
Published on: January 6, 2025
By Apoorva Mandavilli, Emily Anthes

A Louisiana patient who had been hospitalized with severe bird flu has died, the first such fatality in the United States, state health officials reported on Monday.

The patient was older than 65 and had underlying medical conditions, the officials said. The individual became infected with the bird flu virus, H5N1, after exposure to a backyard flock and wild birds.

There is no sign that the virus is spreading from person to person anywhere in the country, and Louisiana officials have not identified any other cases in the state. Pasteurized dairy products remain safe to consume.

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Montreal

Locations exposed to measles in Montreal due to the appearance of a new case

Published January 6, 2025

Published by: Radio-Canada
Published on: January 6, 2025

Another case of measles has been detected in recent days by the Direction de la santé publique de Montréal, which is reminding hospital staff to apply the necessary measures to avoid transmission of this serious respiratory disease.

In a notice published on Sunday, the Direction régionale de santé publique revealed that “a Montréal adult was infected with measles following exposure to another unvaccinated adult with measles, in a location outside Montréal.”

Public Health states that these two cases are part of “the measles chain of transmission initiated by the case imported from a foreign country who attended the NATO Parliamentary Assembly at the Palais des congrès de Montréal in November.”

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avian flu

7 southwestern Ontario poultry farms in quarantine after avian flu outbreak

Published January 5, 2025

Published by: CBC News
Published on: January 5, 2025

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) says seven poultry farms in southwestern Ontario are under quarantine due to an avian flu outbreak.

These include four farms near Ingersoll, two in Strathroy and one in North Middlesex County. The first cases were detected on Dec. 14, 2024, and officials say the virus was transmitted to the area through migratory birds.

“The source is generally migratory birds, so it’s usually spread through direct contact with wild birds or indirectly through fecal matter or contaminated water, soil or feed,” said Grant Loney, incident commander for the Ontario Avian Influenza Response.

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avian flu

In severe bird flu cases, the virus can mutate as it lingers in the body

Published January 3, 2025

Published by: NBC News
Published on: January 3, 2025
By Kaitlin Sullivan, Mustafa Fattah

A 13-year-old girl in British Columbia who was hospitalized with bird flu for several weeks late last year harbored a mutated version of the virus, according to a report published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The case was Canada’s first recorded human infection of avian influenza, which has infected at least 66 people in the United States since last March, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This includes the nation’s first severe case, in Louisiana in December.

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avian flu

B.C. teen no longer critical with avian flu, has been taken off oxygen

Published December 31, 2024

Published by: Global News
Published on: December 31, 2024
By Simon Little

We’re learning more about the B.C. teenager who became the first critically ill pediatric patient with avian influenza in North America earlier this fall, including some details about her recovery.

The new information was published in a case summary as a letter to the editor of the New England Journal of Medicine on Tuesday, signed by multiple doctors from the B.C. Centre for Disease Control, BC Children’s Hospital and Public Health Agency of Canada.

Prior to the publication of the letter, B.C.’s Ministry of Health had refused to provide updates on the teen’s status or their case “unless there is a need from a public health perspective to do so.”

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avian flu

CDC says H5N1 bird flu sample shows mutations that may help the virus bind to cells in the upper airways of people

Published December 26, 2024

Published by: STAT
Published on: December 26, 2024
By Helen Branswell

Genetic sequences of H5N1 bird flu viruses collected from a person in Louisiana who became severely ill show signs of development of several mutations thought to affect the virus’ ability to attach to cells in the upper airways of humans, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Thursday.

One of the mutations was also seen in a virus sample taken from a teenager in British Columbia who was in critical condition in a Vancouver hospital for weeks after contracting H5N1.

The mutation seen in both viruses is believed to help H5N1 adapt to be able to bind to cell receptors found in the upper respiratory tracts of people. Bird flu viruses normally attach to a type of cell receptor that is rare in human upper airways, which is believed to be one of the reasons why H5N1 doesn’t easily infect people and does not spread from person-to-person when it does.

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How America Lost Control of the Bird Flu, Setting the Stage for Another Pandemic

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

avian flu

How America Lost Control of the Bird Flu, Setting the Stage for Another Pandemic

Published December 20, 2024

Published by: KFF Health News
Published on: December 20, 2024
By Amy Maxmen

Keith Poulsen’s jaw dropped when farmers showed him images on their cellphones at the World Dairy Expo in Wisconsin in October. A livestock veterinarian at the University of Wisconsin, Poulsen had seen sick cows before, with their noses dripping and udders slack.

But the scale of the farmers’ efforts to treat the sick cows stunned him. They showed videos of systems they built to hydrate hundreds of cattle at once. In 14-hour shifts, dairy workers pumped gallons of electrolyte-rich fluids into ailing cows through metal tubes inserted into the esophagus.

“It was like watching a field hospital on an active battlefront treating hundreds of wounded soldiers,” he said.

Nearly a year into the first outbreak of the bird flu among cattle, the virus shows no sign of slowing. The U.S. government failed to eliminate the virus on dairy farms when it was confined to a handful of states, by quickly identifying infected cows and taking measures to keep their infections from spreading. Now at least 875 herds across 16 states have tested positive.

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avian flu

Avian flu detected in Manitoba for the 1st time this year

Published December 19, 2024

Published by: CBC News
Published on: December 19, 2024

Manitoba has confirmed its first case of avian influenza in domestic birds for 2024 at a commercial poultry operation in Portage la Prairie.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said the viral infection was detected on Nov. 26. Similar cases have previously been detected in the province in 2022 and 2023.

CFIA has set a primary control zone in the area where the disease was detected.

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avian flu

Gov. Newsom declares state of emergency over bird flu to boost California’s response

Published December 18, 2024

Published by: San Francisco Chronicle
Published on: December 18, 2024
By Catherine Ho

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday declared a state of emergency to boost the state’s response to the avian flu, which has infected more than 600 dairy herds and 34 people in the state amid a national outbreak that began in the spring.

The proclamation gives state and local agencies additional flexibility on staffing, contracting and other rules to support the H5N1 response, according to a statement from the governor’s office.

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Ottawa-Gatineau

Ottawa Public Health warns of very low risk of hepatitis A exposure at south-end Tim Hortons

Published December 17, 2024

Published by: CTV News
Published on: December 17, 2024
By Ted Raymond

Ottawa Public Health is warning residents about a possible risk of exposure to hepatitis A at a local Tim Hortons in the city’s south end.

OPH says it is investigating a confirmed case of hepatitis A in an employee at the Tim Hortons at 372 Hunt Club Rd.

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Alberta

Over 300 COVID outbreaks hit Alberta acute care facilities last year

Published December 15, 2024

Published by: St. Albert Gazette
Published on: December 15, 2024
By Brett McKay

The reality is that people are dying from COVID in our hospitals, and we really are doing very little to prevent them getting ill and getting infected. And we wouldn’t do the same for any other infectious disease.

— Dr. Joe Vipond, an emergency physician in Calgary and co-founder of the Canadian Covid Society

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measles

Hundreds may have been exposed to measles during November NATO conference in Montreal

Published December 6, 2024

Published by: Montreal Gazette
Published on: December 6, 2024

Montreal Public Health says hundreds of people may have been exposed to measles during a recent NATO conference in the city.

The agency says one of the participants in the military alliance’s parliamentary assembly, which took place in Montreal last month, received a measles diagnosis after returning to their home country and would have been contagious while they were in the city.

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avian flu

Single bird flu mutation could let it latch easily to human cells, study finds

Published December 5, 2024

Published by: The Washington Post
Published on: December 5, 2024
By Mark Johnson

Scientists from the Scripps Research Institute are reporting that it would take just a single mutation in the version of bird flu that has swept through U.S. dairy herds to produce a virus adept at latching on to human cells, a much simpler step than previously imagined.

To date, there have been no documented cases of one human passing avian influenza to another, the Scripps scientists wrote in their paper, which was published Thursday in the journal Science. The mutation they identified would allow the virus to attach to our cells by hitching itself to a protein on their surface, known as the receptor.

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