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Category: News

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has a long record of promoting anti-vaccine views

Long before the COVID-19 pandemic, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was building up a following with his anti-vaccine nonprofit group, Children’s Health Defense, and becoming one of the world’s most influential spreaders of fear and distrust around vaccines.

Now, President-elect Donald Trump says he will nominate Kennedy to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, which regulates vaccines.

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Many long COVID patients adjust to slim recovery odds as world moves on

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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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Paxlovid cuts COVID hospitalization, death risk and speeds symptom relief, studies find

New findings from two studies have tied use of the antiviral drug nirmatrelvir-ritonavir (Paxlovid) to a reduction in COVID-19 hospitalizations and death, as well as to faster resolution of symptoms and less use of healthcare resources.

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Experts Share What Another Trump Presidency Could Mean For Your Health

During 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.

— Lucky Tran, a science communicator based in New York
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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.

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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.

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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.

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‘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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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.

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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).

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