Health

As Alberta's measles outbreaks grow, researchers are now watching the province's wastewater for the highly contagious virus and hoping to determine if the technology could eventually serve as an early detection tool.The magnitude of Alberta's outbreaks and the speed at which cases are climbing has sparked widespread concern. As of midday Tuesday, 1,323 cases had been confirmed since the outbreaks began in March.Piggybacking off weekly wastewater samples, collected through the provincial COVID-19 surveillance program, the team has designed a test that can identify both the wild type measles virus (indicating actual infection) and vaccine-related shedding in the wastewater."Wastewater surveillance was shown to be very useful globally — internationally — during COVID-19," said Dr. Bonita Lee,...

First-generation Sask. rancher Kole Norman says he went through some dark times dealing with the stresses of the job and had trouble finding help."I was definitely very suicidal. … I just felt really helpless," he said. "I'd held off on reaching out. I didn't want to seem weak or fragile. When I did end up reaching out, it just felt like that help that I thought was there wasn't actually immediate, like I had hoped it was."Norman is one of several producers sharing their struggles in a Canadian documentary screening in Saskatoon this week.Saskatoon's Broadway Theatre is hosting a special screening of Deep Rooted, a 33-minute documentary examining the mental health of agricultural producers in Canada, on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. CST. Entry is by donation.Deep Rooted is screening at the Broad...

Another person has died and 20 more are sick from legionnaires' disease in London, Ont., public health officials warn. That brings the outbreak to a total of two people dead and 64 sick since it was declared by the Middlesex-London Health Unit less than a week ago, on July 8. The patients have ranged in age from 23- to 93-years old, but health officials still don't have an exact source of the deadly bacteria, or whether it is linked to an outbreak that killed two people last year. On Monday, officials released a map to indicate the general area most impacted by the outbreak, though it takes in a large chunk of the city. "Despite this cluster of cases, the overall risk to the broader community remains low, particularly for individuals who are not at higher risk," officials said."Homes and b...

Officials are pulling another brand of salami off the shelves due to an ongoing salmonella outbreak: Rea brand Soppressata Salami Sweet, according to an update from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.Other products include Rea brand Genoa Salami Sweet, Rea brand Genoa Salami Hot and Bona brand Mild Genova Salami. Consumers can subscribe for updates on recalled products here.The Public Health Agency of Canada says 84 people have gotten sick and nine landed in hospital after eating deli meat.Previously, they said the products linked to the outbreak were sold in Ontario, Alberta and Manitoba. They're now adding Quebec to that list.Salmonella is a bacterial illness that can result in severe and potentially deadly infections, particularly for children, pregnant people, the elderly and those wi...

The Federal Court of Appeal will hear arguments from a B.C. ostrich farm Tuesday as it seeks to protect its herd from a cull ordered due to the avian flu, in a case that has sparked accusations of government overreach from critics in Canada and the U.S.Universal Ostrich in Edgewood, B.C., was ordered to cull over 400 birds after highly pathogenic avian flu was detected on the farm last December.The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) ordered the cull as part of a stamping-out policy to deal with the disease, which led to over eight million birds being infected in B.C. alone, with the agency arguing that they pose a risk of spreading the virus, affecting Canada's food security.Universal Ostrich has argued, however, that avian flu hasn't been detected on the farm in months, and birds shou...

Cheaper versions of medications to treat obesity, like Ozempic and Wegovy, could be on the market in Canada as soon as January.Ozempic is a social media darling — with celebrities singing its praises and people posting about major weight loss. But a patient can pay $400 a month for such medications, says Dr. Sanjeev Sockalingam, Obesity Canada's scientific director and a professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto.He says his patients have been frustrated and disappointed by the "prohibitive" cost. But now, several companies say they intend to market cheaper versions of such drugs. Here's what medical experts say:What are these medications? Injectable prescription drugs, sold as Ozempic and Wegovy, and the pill Rybelsus all contain the ingredient semaglutide. This class of medicat...

Alberta has now confirmed more measles cases than the entire United States has reported this year.The province has been battling outbreaks since March and as of noon Monday, total case counts in the province had ballooned to 1,314.The latest update from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that country has amassed 1,288 cases this year."Looking at the numbers it saddens me," said Dr. Sam Wong, the president of the section of  pediatrics with the Alberta Medical Association."I think if we had gotten to it sooner —  and taken it more seriously sooner — then maybe we would not have reached this milestone where one province actually exceeds the entire case count for the United States, which has got 10 times the population as Canada."Thirty new cases were reported between m...

Cutting billions of dollars from the Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) budget could worsen the quality of essential programs and may spark lawsuits that would cost Ottawa more money in the long term, some Indigenous advocates say.The warning comes in response to an internal government email sent last week confirming Prime Minister Mark Carney's Liberal government has asked ISC, like other departments, to cut planned spending by up to 15 per cent over three years.That's cause for alarm, according to children's advocate Cindy Blackstock, particularly because Carney has said areas like provincial health-care transfers or individual benefits like pensions will be protected but never offered that guarantee for services to Indigenous peoples."It really has a smack of almost racist fiscal policy i...

While there are different standards to measure air quality, Quebec recommends groups working with children go by the amount of particulate matter in the air, also known as PM2.5.

About one-third of Canadians have become obese — with more weight gain happening during the pandemic, according to a new study. The research, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) Monday, found that 32.7 per cent of Canadians (10.6 million people) were obese in 2023 — an increase of about eight percentage points since 2009. But the researchers also saw a steeper increase in obesity during the COVID-19 pandemic."The pandemic had such a profound impact on our daily lives … including changes in our eating behaviours and access to healthy foods," said Laura Anderson, lead author on the study and associate professor in health, research methods, evidence and impact at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont.Obesity is a medical condition that puts people at higher risk of oth...