Health

Quebec's Health Ministry says it's on the verge of declaring its measles outbreak over, just as cases reach new heights in other parts of the country.The province says it has not recorded a new measles case since it hit 40 infections on March 18.If no additional cases are reported by Saturday — 32 days after the last contagious case — the ministry says it will signal the end of the outbreak.That's a stark contrast to Ontario, where measles cases have exceeded 800 since an outbreak began in the fall, and Alberta, which on Wednesday recorded 84 cases since March.Quebec's outbreak began in December 2024 with a traveller who was visiting the province while contagious with measles, before they were diagnosed.Most of the province's cases — 32 out of the 40 — were reported in the Laurentians, nor...

Measles pread to 109 more people in Ontario over the last week, bringing the province's total cases to 925 since an outbreak began in October.Sixty-nine people have required hospitalization — that's eight more than last week — including four in intensive care.Measles is still predominantly infecting unvaccinated infants, children and adolescents in southwestern Ontario.Cases in Alberta have also been climbing since March, with 83 confirmed as of Wednesday.Meanwhile, Quebec is on the verge of declaring its outbreak over if no new infections are reported by Saturday.The province says it has not recorded a new measles case since it hit 40 infections on March 18.Measles usually begins with a fever, cough, runny nose and red watery eyes, followed by a red blotchy rash that starts on the face an...

Election day is less than two weeks away, but Rowena Edwards is still unsure who she should vote for."Honestly, I don't like any candidates," the 63-year-old told CBC News through an email interview.Edwards is one of more than eight million Canadians living with a disability. She says she spends around 20 hours a day in a hospital bed at home in Sherwood Park, Alta. — by herself and unable to work. She says she feels forgotten by Canada's federal party leaders."Our leaders don't even think about us," she said. "I have no faith that things will change for us." She's not the only person who feels that way. Disability activist and retired lawyer David Lepofsky, who is blind, says people with disabilities are victims of a "vicious cycle that muzzles their voice."Activists are calling on federa...

Members of the World Health Organization reached a landmark agreement on Wednesday on how to learn from COVID-19, which killed millions of people in 2020-22, and prepare the world for future pandemics.Sticking points on the road to the deal included how to share drugs and vaccines fairly between wealthy countries and poorer ones.The legally binding pact is widely seen as a victory for the global health agency at a time when multilateral organizations like the WHO have been battered by sharp cuts in U.S. foreign funding."After more than three years of intensive negotiations, WHO member states took a major step forward in efforts to make the world safer from pandemics," the health body said in a statement.U.S. negotiators left the discussions after President Donald Trump began a 12-month pro...

A new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests autism diagnosis rates continue to rise in the U.S., sparking inflammatory rhetoric from government officials, while experts largely attribute the trend to improved screening and better understanding of the condition. The CDC reported Tuesday that an estimated one in 31 eight-year-olds in the U.S. have autism, using data from 14 states and Puerto Rico in 2022. The previous estimate — from 2020 — was one in 36.The CDC checked health and school records for eight-year-olds for its estimate, because most cases are diagnosed by that age. Boys continue to be diagnosed more than girls, and the highest rates are among children who are Asian/Pacific Islander, Indigenous and Black.The CDC acknowledges that its repor...

A Nova Scotia woman recovering from a lung transplant says she had to take tens of thousands of dollars from her retirement fund in order to undergo the life-saving procedure because provincial medical allowances fall far short of her expenses.Nan Clarke, who is originally from Charlottetown but retired in the Halifax area, was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in 2019. That's a thickening of the lungs that causes them to stiffen up."We were told there was a possibility of dying early on. That was hard to take," Clarke, 73, said in an interview.Clarke's only chance of survival was a transplant, but that meant temporarily moving to Toronto.Lungs are the only organ that can't be transplanted on the East Coast. Patients undergo their initial treatment and tests in Halifax, but must...

The chief of Neskantaga First Nation is calling on the federal government to quickly help set up a mobile health centre in the remote community due to flooding that has closed its nursing station.Chief Gary Quisses and the northwestern Ontario community's council declared a state of emergency on Sunday after health-care staff noticed water seeping from the walls and a strong smell of fuel.The First Nation, where fewer than 400 people live about 450 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay, has also been under Canada's longest boil-water advisory for 30 years."It's our lifeline, our nursing station," Quisses said during a virtual news conference on Tuesday. "I don't have [a] proper medical facility in the community right now. We have a small interim place, but that's not good enough."The tempora...

The Alberta government introduced its long-promised and controversial bill on Tuesday to force people with severe substance addictions into involuntary treatment. Bill 53, the Compassionate Intervention Act, lays out the criteria, guidelines and process for a family member or guardian, health-care professional or police officer to get someone into treatment."This program is not for the vast majority of Albertans who suffer from addiction," Dan Williams, Alberta's minister of mental health and addiction, told a news conference in Edmonton."This program is also not a criminal justice program. This is a health-care program … health care should lead to healing, and not harming those who suffer from addiction."The government intends to start opening compassionate intervention beds in existing f...

Dr. Mark Joffe is no longer Alberta's chief medical officer of health, leaving the province without a top doctor as it battles growing measles outbreaks.The Alberta government confirmed on Tuesday afternoon that Joffe's contract ended on April 14 — after being extended for an additional two weeks — and that the search for a permanent replacement has begun."Since November 2022, Dr. Mark Joffe has served Albertans as the interim chief medical officer of health with dedication and professionalism, providing public health expertise during a time of significant challenges and transitions," a statement from the health minister's office said.The government said it expects to announce a new interim CMOH "imminently," and in the meantime it will rely on the advice of public health experts and local...

An open letter from a group of Manitoba researchers has garnered support from hundreds of other scientists and academics across the country, sounding the alarm about the effects of research cuts in the U.S. on Canadian research and urging federal political leaders to take action.The letter, which was shared Friday and as of Tuesday afternoon had more than 750 signatures, said it comes "at a critical moment for global science.""The dramatic dismantling of research infrastructure in the United States, the world's historical leader in scientific investment, has left an international innovation vacuum," it says.Julie Lajoie, an assistant professor at the University of Manitoba and one of the academics who wrote the letter, said the current climate in the U.S. has created "a unique moment in ti...