Health

Alberta's measles outbreaks have now eclipsed the 1,000-case mark and infectious disease specialists are warning the virus is "impossible to contain," given the current level of transmission.The province reported another 24 cases on Friday, including 14 in the north zone, nine in the south and one in the Edmonton zone.This brings the total confirmed cases since the outbreaks began in March to 1,020."It is a very grim milestone," said Dr. Karina Top, a pediatric infectious disease physician at the Stollery Children's Hospital in Edmonton, which has been treating children with measles."I'm very worried we're going to see more hospitalizations and some deaths soon because we know the death rate is about one to two per thousand. So it's likely that we're going to see that and that will be a ve...

White Coat Black Art32:37As Dr. Theresa Tam steps down, she urges Canada to stand strong on public healthAs Dr. Theresa Tam retires as Canada's top doctor, she's calling for a national vaccine registry.Tam says the COVID-19 pandemic, which began in early 2020 and killed at least 60,000 Canadians, showed how badly one is needed to track vaccines and protect vulnerable communities.A national vaccine registry, she says, could help prevent and manage crises like the resurgence of measles that the country now faces.Tam says she's in favour of a "nationally interoperable network of vaccine registries" that connects all of the provincial and territorial health systems and helps identify pockets of the population where there is poor vaccine coverage.While the majority of measles cases so far have ...

As Shirley Pien-Bérubé walks through the halls of the Indigenous Health Centre of Tio'tia:ke, she pauses to point out all the ways the Montreal-based clinic has grown since it opened in 2023."Our services have expanded so much," she said. "We have a diabetic foot-care clinic, we have an optometry clinic, physiotherapy, mental health, clinical psychologist, addictions worker, a spiritual healer."Just inside the main entrance, a table is set up with sage and sweetgrass. Patients are invited to smudge or make their own medicine bundles. Care here is offered in several Indigenous languages, including Inuktitut and Cree.Pien-Bérubé works as a health navigator, accompanying patients and advocating for them within the health-care system. She says that's just one of the services offered here.The c...

Walking down Fort York Boulevard on a fresh, breezy afternoon, scientist Elisabeth Galarneau has no issue pointing out possible sources of air pollution.The manicured lawns and flower beds? A potential source of airborne pesticides. The nearby high-rise apartment buildings? A source of pollutants from both heating and cooling, not to mention the cleaners and personal care products being used inside — remnants of which could be circulating down at street level. Charcoal barbecues, restaurant stoves, fire pits, squealing tires, nearby highways? They all contribute to the air Torontonians breathe. Now, the first glimpse at an in-depth study conducted by Galarneau and over 100 other scientists looking at winter air quality in Toronto is shedding light on rarely-measured air pollutants across t...

Insect-borne diseases are becoming increasingly common in southern parts of the province, with climate change playing a part.

The video call is grainy, but it's crystal clear what the person on the phone is trying to sell: illicit drugs, packaged and ready to be shipped to Canada. The seller, who goes by the name Kim, says he sells cocaine, methamphetamine, MDMA and nitazenes, a powerful class of synthetic opioids most people have never heard of — but which can be up to 43 times more powerful than fentanyl."It can kill people, right? So, I just want to make sure that you know that," the CBC journalist asks in a secretly recorded phone call."That is the game," the seller replies.The seller is one of the 14 people the CBC's visual investigation unit spoke to in text messages and phone calls after finding them through ads posted by users on major social media platforms such as LinkedIn, X and Reddit and e-commerce w...

A class-action lawsuit that hopes to help pregnant mothers who were red-flagged and had their newborns taken away by child welfare agencies has been certified to proceed against the Ontario government — but it's only a partial win for the plaintiffs.Part of the lawsuit — to hold 49 children's aid societies (CAS) across the province accountable for those "birth alerts" — failed to get the green light from an Ontario Superior Court judge.It's taken three years for the proposed class action to reach this certification ruling — a step necessary before a group lawsuit can proceed to trial. Now, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs says appealing the court's decision could delay justice for parents a bit longer.Birth alerts are notifications that child welfare agencies issued to hospitals about ...

Canada's new disability benefit — a program that provides eligible people with up to $200 a month — is now open for applications.The program is available to people with disabilities between the ages of 18 and 64 who already have been approved for the disability tax credit. The government says payments are set to begin in July.The payments are meant to supplement provincial and territorial programs, and Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu said all provinces and territories except for Alberta have pledged not to claw back their own benefits.The benefit was part of the Trudeau Liberal government's promise to help lift people with disabilities out of poverty.Many advocates for people with disabilities have panned the benefit, saying it will do little to actually address poverty.Hajdu, whose new portfoli...

The Federal Court of Appeal has ruled that Health Canada's refusal to allow exemptions for health-care workers to use psilocybin as part of their experiential training was unreasonable.Wednesday's decision was the result of an appeal of a 2022 judicial review application in a case involving 96 health-care practitioners who sought an exemption to legally use dried hallucinogenic mushrooms as part of what is known as experiential training.The initial application for exemption was filed under the name of Jeff Toth, a Nova Scotia nurse practitioner.Health Canada's refusal of the health-care workers' requests for exemptions has been sent back to Health Minister Marjorie Michel for redetermination.Jeff Toth is a Nova Scotia registered nurse and advocate for psilocybin treatment. He is one of 96 ...

As the province's measles case count approaches 1,000, health experts are raising the alarm about Alberta babies who are being born already infected with the virus.The provincial government has confirmed cases of congenital measles, which can lead to severe complications, including death, have already occurred as a result of this year's outbreaks. Pregnant Albertans are also testing positive."Fewer than five cases of congenital measles have been reported in Alberta in 2025. In each case, the mother was not immunized. Information on whether the infants were born prematurely is not available," an official with Primary and Preventative Health Services said in an email."To date, there have been 20 confirmed cases of measles in pregnant individuals. Fewer than five have been hospitalized due to...