Dread slips over Juschka Clarke at the sound of wild geese in the distance.
“I bet you don’t even hear that,” the Chilliwack chicken farmer said to a neighbour. “But I do. I’m always listening for the wild birds.”
Wild birds are largely responsible for the spread of avian influenza in B.C., with new cases being detected on commercial poultry farms each day, including four on Friday and 10 more in the seven days before that.
The scale of the outbreak is unprecedented, said B.C.’s chief veterinarian Theresa Burns, whether you count from December 2021 when the first case of H5N1 appeared in Canada, or look only at B.C. this year.
Thirty-six B.C. flocks, almost all in the Fraser Valley, were infected with the virus as of Friday afternoon when new cases were detected on farms in Chilliwack and Surrey, with more than 100 flocks and 3.7 million birds infected in the province over the last two years.
B.C. cases make up about half of all Canadian cases in an outbreak that is devastating poultry and wild bird populations around the world, while posing a continuing risk to humans. The WHO has warned that increasing detection in mammals, like cats, dogs, seals and sea lions, raises concerns that the virus might adapt to infect humans more easily.
B.C. provincial health office Bonnie Henry has urged people who live or work on poultry farms to get a flu shot. Although the bird flu doesn’t easily spread to people, it’s possible, and a person infected with both the human and bird virus could “create a new influenza virus that could be more infectious to humans,” she said.
In birds, H5N1 is deadly.
Typically spread by wild birds, including those that migrate south as the weather gets colder, the virus thrives in cool, wet weather. Fraser Valley fields provide food and an inviting place to overwinter.
“It’s a bit of a mixing pot,” said Burns. “There’s probably more opportunities for wild birds to shed the virus.”
A well-intentioned person trying to rescue a sick goose can also spread the flu, as can walking through bird droppings on the ground or in a puddle of dirty water.
Farmers may check on their flock at night and see nothing unusual, only to return in the morning and find them dead or dying, said Amanda Brittain, spokeswoman for the B.C. Poultry Association.
It’s a devastating experience that kicks off a process involving euthanizing the surviving birds and letting them compost inside the sealed barn. Cleaning and disinfection processes are led by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. Once the risk has passed, getting new chickens can be difficult as other farms may also be looking for chicks.
Although farmers have insurance, the financial losses are significant and compounded by the emotional strain.
“Farmers are doing everything they can to protect their flocks,” said Brittain. “They’ve got the highest biosecurity measures in place, but the virus is still getting into barns.”
The big question is how. Methods that protected commercial poultry in the past don’t seem to be working as well against H5N1.
Since 2004, when B.C. experienced its first significant avian flu outbreak and 16 million birds in the Fraser Valley were culled to prevent its spread, chicken farmers have vastly improved biosecurity and largely kept outbreaks at bay.
Going from her house to her barn, Clarke changes her shoes no less than three times in addition to putting on different coveralls. Her barns are behind a locked gate and no vehicles are allowed to drive close except to pick up eggs and deliver feed. Any tools leaving the barn are bagged and cleaned, with the process happening again on return.
It’s become a way of life, she said.
But with the virus rapidly spreading in spite of those measures, it’s unclear how long farmers can deal with the “new normal.”
“When I hear about friends, other farms, that have it, my heart stops,” said Clarke. “We’re leaning quite hard on each other. We reach out to those who are going through it and offer support.”
Clarke said she hasn’t heard of anyone planning to quit.
“Farmers are tough,” she said, noting that some of the farms in her area also lost flocks in the 2021 flooding.
Brittain said the poultry association is following research being done in B.C. and around the world. France has decided to vaccinate 64 million ducks against H5N1, although the move prevents them from exporting the birds because vaccination makes it hard to detect bird flu.
“It’s become an international trade issue,” she said. “Once the science catches up and figures out what is happening, maybe there’s a way we can live with this. But at this point, the amount of stress and anxiety this is causing, I don’t think it can be the new normal.”
Burns said the unprecedented nature of H5N1 makes it difficult to predict what will happen next.
Last winter, infections in B.C. peaked in mid-December. The same could happen this year, with another bump in the spring when migrating birds return.
Wild birds have developed immunity to past strains of bird flu, sometimes within a few months. While that hasn’t yet happened with H5N1, there’s hope that will still happen, although it could take longer, possibly three to five years. Ultimately, the future of the virus remains unknown, said the chief vet.
Burns said there is no risk to food safety from the outbreak as people can’t get the avian flu from cooked poultry, and no meat or eggs from infected farms is making its way into the food chain.
Brittain said that under Canada’s supply-managed system, B.C. can get chicken and eggs from other provinces to make up for any short-term shortages, so she didn’t anticipate price increases, but noted prices at the grocery stores are set by food retailers. Christmas turkeys should also be available, although five local turkey farms have been hit.
Back in Chilliwack, Clarke continues to watch the skies.
A freezing winter could send wild birds south in search of warmer weather. A swirl of snowflakes instead of snow geese would be a welcome sight.
The Canadian government says it will donate up to 200,000 vaccine doses to fight the mpox outbreak in Congo and other African countries.
It says the donated doses of Imvamune will come from Canada’s existing supply and will not affect the country’s preparedness for mpox cases in this country.
Minister of Health Mark Holland says the donation “will help to protect those in the most affected regions of Africa and will help prevent further spread of the virus.”
Dr. Madhukar Pai, Canada research chair in epidemiology and global health, says although the donation is welcome, it is a very small portion of the estimated 10 million vaccine doses needed to control the outbreak.
Vaccine donations from wealthier countries have only recently started arriving in Africa, almost a month after the World Health Organization declared the mpox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.
A few days after the declaration in August, Global Affairs Canada announced a contribution of $1 million for mpox surveillance, diagnostic tools, research and community awareness in Africa.
On Thursday, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said mpox is still on the rise and that testing rates are “insufficient” across the continent.
Jason Kindrachuk, Canada research chair in emerging viruses at the University of Manitoba, said donating vaccines, in addition to supporting surveillance and diagnostic tests, is “massively important.”
But Kindrachuk, who has worked on the ground in Congo during the epidemic, also said that the international response to the mpox outbreak is “better late than never (but) better never late.”
“It would have been fantastic for us globally to not be in this position by having provided doses a much, much longer time prior than when we are,” he said, noting that the outbreak of clade I mpox in Congo started in early 2023.
Clade II mpox, endemic in regions of West Africa, came to the world’s attention even earlier — in 2022 — as that strain of virus spread to other countries, including Canada.
Two doses are recommended for mpox vaccination, so the donation may only benefit 100,000 people, Pai said.
Pai questioned whether Canada is contributing enough, as the federal government hasn’t said what percentage of its mpox vaccine stockpile it is donating.
“Small donations are simply not going to help end this crisis. We need to show greater solidarity and support,” he said in an email.
“That is the biggest lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic — our collective safety is tied with that of other nations.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
HALIFAX – The Nova Scotia government says it could be months before it reveals how many people are on the wait-list for a family doctor.
The head of the province’s health authority told reporters Wednesday that the government won’t release updated data until the 160,000 people who were on the wait-list in June are contacted to verify whether they still need primary care.
Karen Oldfield said Nova Scotia Health is working on validating the primary care wait-list data before posting new numbers, and that work may take a matter of months. The most recent public wait-list figures are from June 1, when 160,234 people, or about 16 per cent of the population, were on it.
“It’s going to take time to make 160,000 calls,” Oldfield said. “We are not talking weeks, we are talking months.”
The interim CEO and president of Nova Scotia Health said people on the list are being asked where they live, whether they still need a family doctor, and to give an update on their health.
A spokesperson with the province’s Health Department says the government and its health authority are “working hard” to turn the wait-list registry into a useful tool, adding that the data will be shared once it is validated.
Nova Scotia’s NDP are calling on Premier Tim Houston to immediately release statistics on how many people are looking for a family doctor. On Tuesday, the NDP introduced a bill that would require the health minister to make the number public every month.
“It is unacceptable for the list to be more than three months out of date,” NDP Leader Claudia Chender said Tuesday.
Chender said releasing this data regularly is vital so Nova Scotians can track the government’s progress on its main 2021 campaign promise: fixing health care.
The number of people in need of a family doctor has more than doubled between the 2021 summer election campaign and June 2024. Since September 2021 about 300 doctors have been added to the provincial health system, the Health Department said.
“We’ll know if Tim Houston is keeping his 2021 election promise to fix health care when Nova Scotians are attached to primary care,” Chender said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Newfoundland and Labrador‘s chief medical officer is monitoring the rise of whooping cough infections across the province as cases of the highly contagious disease continue to grow across Canada.
Dr. Janice Fitzgerald says that so far this year, the province has recorded 230 confirmed cases of the vaccine-preventable respiratory tract infection, also known as pertussis.
Late last month, Quebec reported more than 11,000 cases during the same time period, while Ontario counted 470 cases, well above the five-year average of 98. In Quebec, the majority of patients are between the ages of 10 and 14.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick has declared a whooping cough outbreak across the province. A total of 141 cases were reported by last month, exceeding the five-year average of 34.
The disease can lead to severe complications among vulnerable populations including infants, who are at the highest risk of suffering from complications like pneumonia and seizures. Symptoms may start with a runny nose, mild fever and cough, then progress to severe coughing accompanied by a distinctive “whooping” sound during inhalation.
“The public, especially pregnant people and those in close contact with infants, are encouraged to be aware of symptoms related to pertussis and to ensure vaccinations are up to date,” Newfoundland and Labrador’s Health Department said in a statement.
Whooping cough can be treated with antibiotics, but vaccination is the most effective way to control the spread of the disease. As a result, the province has expanded immunization efforts this school year. While booster doses are already offered in Grade 9, the vaccine is now being offered to Grade 8 students as well.
Public health officials say whooping cough is a cyclical disease that increases every two to five or six years.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick’s acting chief medical officer of health expects the current case count to get worse before tapering off.
A rise in whooping cough cases has also been reported in the United States and elsewhere. The Pan American Health Organization issued an alert in July encouraging countries to ramp up their surveillance and vaccination coverage.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.
