News/Canada/British Columbia

There is a window of relief for British Columbia farmers from the devastating waves of avian flu, leaving them to assess the toll of outbreaks spanning more than three years that saw millions of birds culled at hundreds of farms.Farmers and scientists also worry what the next migration of wild birds will bring this year.Some farmers have moved their operations outside British Columbia's Fraser Valley or exited the industry altogether since the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian flu began circulating, said farmer Ray Nickel.Nickel, who operates a farm in Abbotsford in the Fraser Valley, was forced to cull 60,000 chickens in the fall of 2022 due to the disease. He said his flock of about 9,000 turkeys on another farm was also euthanized in 2023.WATCH | B.C. poultry farms face avian flu threat: Avi...

An independent report detailing the "choices and mistakes" that led to the overdose death of a first-year University of Victoria student in January 2024 has been released by the university, casting new light on the circumstances of the incident and her parent's fight for transparency in the year since.The report, written by former Abbotsford police chief Bob Rich, found that there were "several points" on the night when Sidney McIntyre-Starko overdosed that, had the response been different, she would have likely survived. Another student who overdosed alongside McIntyre-Starko in the residence building was revived by naloxone. "Sidney, her family, the other students who overdosed, and the students who tried to help, were not properly cared for that night," says the report."The only way for...

A Burnaby spa employee who provided purported vaginal-tightening treatments has been found guilty on all seven charges of sexual assault by a B.C. Supreme Court jury.Farshad Khojsteh Kashani was first charged in 2022 after two clients of Fab Skin Care complained to police of being sexually assaulted during treatments. After police said there might be more victims, five more women came forward.All seven complainants testified during the trial. Three of the women had a Groupon — from the online marketplace that offers deals and discounts — for the procedure. The other four had been to the clinic for different esthetic procedures previously. Crown prosecutors said Khojsteh Kashani sexually assaulted each of the seven complainants during the procedure, meaning he touched them sexually, arguing...

Northern Health is warning that a toxic drug that is "equal or more toxic than fentanyl" is being sold in northern B.C.The health authority issued the alert Thursday, saying it had tested round white pills as positive for the synthetic opioid sotonitazene or "nitazene". Created in the 1950s as potential pain relievers, they were never approved for clinical use.However, they have emerged within recreational drug supplies in the United States, Canada and European countries since 2019.Scientists have relatively little information about how the human body reacts to nitazenes because the chemicals have never gone through clinical trials that offer a chance to find out.Northern Health says the drug has been detected in pills being sold as oxycocet, a prescription pain reliever.It warns that whil...

The Cure is a CBC News series examining strategies provinces and territories are using to tackle the primary care crisis.A group of doctors in British Columbia's northeast, with the help of city council, has saved a clinic from closure — and now has its sights set on bringing team-based care to a region where many people are without a family doctor. In July 2024, Dawson Creek, a city of about 12,000 near the B.C.-Alberta border, purchased the Eljen Medical Clinic. Mayor Darcy Dober said when the owner of the clinic put it up for sale, local physicians worried about the community's loss of medical care."They also had a vision for a Primary Care Network," he said. The South Peace Division of Family Practice, a community-based group of family doctors that serves Dawson Creek and the nearby co...

Wietske Flor goes through every day wondering when the next seizure will hit. Sometimes, the seizures happen multiple times a day. Sometimes, days will go by without one, leaving her on guard and waiting for the inevitable. It means the 41-year-old Chilliwack mom can't be left alone to care for her three kids, aged nine to 13. She can't drive — even though before this illness, she used to fly airplanes, having completed her training as a commercial pilot before deciding to become a midwife. "I am almost in a shell," Wietske said from her Chilliwack home. Simple tasks like cooking and gardening are often too overwhelming. The seizures leave her so tired she often misses her kids' school events. "It's been utterly debilitating for us," said her husband, Gabor Flor. "For most of the four year...

When Jennie Passche gets sick, she finds herself in a competition to get care.The 65-year-old in Esquimalt, on B.C.'s Vancouver Island, says she has to wake up early to call her community's urgent and primary care centre, which opened in 2021 to provide same-day care and alleviate the family doctor shortage.But by the time she gets through, she says, it's usually too late."It just seems so hopeless. What's going to happen to me? Who am I going to see?"Passche was taking part in a call-in segment on CBC's BC Today meant to mark a milestone for the province: 1,001 new family care physicians hired over the past two years following changes made to the province's payment model, and a record number of residents – 250,000 – attached to some sort of primary care provider.WATCH | How B.C. changed i...

Much ADHD content on TikTok is inaccurate, and this has potentially influenced how young adults perceive the disorder, according to a recent UBC study. The study analyzed the 100 most viewed TikToks related to ADHD and found less than half the claims about symptoms actually align with clinical guidelines for diagnosing the disorder. And it found those who consumed more ADHD-related content were more likely to recommend the videos to others — and to overestimate the prevalence and severity of ADHD in the general population. "Most of them come from a really good place," said Vasilea Karasavva, a PhD student at UBC who led the study."But words have power. When you have a platform, you yield a certain amount of power, and you have to be a little careful about that."ADHD (attention deficit hype...

Scientists are raising the alarm over low measles vaccination rates in parts of B.C. as concern grows over outbreaks in Ontario and Texas.Health officials in Ontario say there have been 350 cases of the virus in the province since late October — with 173 of those infections reported within the last several weeks — and in late February, an unvaccinated Texas child lost their life in the first U.S. measles death since 2015.The measles, mumps and rubella vaccine — which is safe and highly effective at preventing infection and severe cases — is recommended for children between 12 and 15 months old for the first shot, with the second coming between the ages of four and six.However, the Okanagan and Kootenay-Boundary regions of B.C. showed less than two-thirds of seven-year-olds were up to date ...

Testing wastewater for diseases and viral activity gained prominence during the pandemic, but scientists are concerned that funding for such work could be threatened.Monitoring wastewater for pathogens — and even illicit and prescription drugs — was around for decades before the pandemic, but the method of estimating virus levels gained public attention at the peak of the pandemic when it was unclear how much disease was circulating.The B.C. Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) stepped up its surveillance and now regularly monitors the wastewater from around the province to gauge virus levels — not just for COVID-19, but also for influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).Scientists say they hope Canada continues to fund that work. Ontario ended its COVID-19 wastewater surveillance prog...