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Canada’s first ‘presumptive’ case of deadly coronavirus confirmed in Toronto

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Have you been exposed to the coronavirus yet?

Regardless of where you live in Canada, the real answer is that we don’t know yet.

The virus has finally made the jump to Toronto from the distant Chinese city of Wuhan. If you thought the city had been closed off from travel, well you are right, but not before the virus arrived earlier this week on a flight that landed at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport.

What we are relying on now are the assurances of public health officials that this new virus with a habit of killing people is being contained here, is not easily transmitted, and that we are all safe.

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What we know so far is that a man in his 50s, who officials are calling the first “presumptive case” of coronavirus in Canada, had been visiting Wuhan and then boarded a flight to Wanzhou before taking off Tuesday on a flight to Toronto.

The man arrived in Canada on Wednesday.

He was transported by ambulance to Toronto’s Sunnybrook Hospital the next day. The ambulance crew knew enough to show up in protective gear, or what most of us might call HazMat suits.

The good news is he didn’t call a cab, or walk into the emergency room, potentially infecting other people. We are also told by officials the infected man did not take public transit from the airport to home –he travelled in a private car.

The bad news is that there can be several flights a day between Wanzhou and Toronto. If you, someone you know or someone who you came in contact with was infected, then you may not know yet.

Speaking at a hastily called news conference at Queen’s Park Saturday evening, Ontario’s Associate Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Barbara Yaffe said the protocol for a disease like this is to identify people within three rows of the sick individual “because they would be at risk, potentially.”


Deputy Premier and Minister of Health Christine Elliott and Dr. Peter Donnelly, President and Chief Executive Officer of Public Health Ontario, were among the speakers at a press conference held at Queen’s Park to announce Canada’s first “presumptive” case of coronavirus has been confirmed in Toronto on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2020. (Veronica Henri/Toronto Sun/Postmedia Network)

Health officials said they were working with the information they had been given but that is was too early to say how many people would be at risk.

The most common flight from Wanzhou to Toronto appears to be carried out via a Boeing 777-300 — a plane that, depending on the configuration, ranges from 300 to 360 passengers.

How many of those passengers could have been infected either on the plane or in the airport waiting to board is unknown. How many people those infected could have come in contact with and where they are in Canada is also not known.

Health officials believe that this first case is someone who did not have much contact with other people once he arrived in Canada.

“The evidence to date is that this is not easily transmitted between people,” Dr. Yaffe said. “In terms of transmission it’s mostly to very close household contacts.”

“And I can assure you that any close household contacts have already been put into self-isolation and are being monitored,” she added.

Even with all these reassurances, health officials were clear this will not be the last case of coronavirus that we see in Canada.

So why are they so upbeat? Didn’t we deal with the deadly SARS epidemic years ago in Ontario?

“We are in a very, very different place than when we were responding to SARS,” said Dr. Peter Donnelly, president of Public Health Ontario. “One of the things that is very different is that we know what the virus is, we have a fast, reliable test and that really is a game changer.”

Donnelly said that test means that not only can we test those with symptoms but we can test and monitor those who have come into contact with an infected individual.

This news will obviously put many people on edge, and understandably so. So far, coronavirus has killed 56 people in China and sickened nearly 2,000 others.

We can take some comfort in knowing that local, provincial and federal officials are working closely together to detect and stop this virus.

But we need to be concerned about how many people have already been infected in Canada and make sure they get the care they need and that the rest of us take precautions.

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Measles case reported locally turns out to be negative: health unit

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NEWS RELEASE
SIMCOE MUSKOKA DISTRICT HEALTH UNIT
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On March 26, the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit (SMDHU) was notified by Public Health Ontario’s (PHO) laboratory that due to laboratory error, the case of measles that had been lab-confirmed positive on March 12, based on symptoms and a positive urine measles laboratory result by PHO’s laboratory, is in fact negative for the measles virus.

“With this new information of the negative lab result, we believe that that individual was not infected with measles and that there has not been any public exposure to measles resulting from this individual’s illness,” said Dr. Charles Gardner, medical officer of health. “We recognize that notifying the public of what we believed to be a positive measles case in our area created worry, anxiety and disruption for some, and we regret this.

“We do know that, despite best efforts, on rare occasions laboratory errors can occur. We are working closely with the PHO’s laboratory to do all that we can to ensure that such an incident does not occur again.”

Measles is a highly contagious viral infection that spreads very easily through airborne transmission. The measles virus can live in the air or on surfaces for up to two hours.

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Symptoms of measles begin seven to 21 days after exposure and include fever, runny nose, cough, drowsiness, and red eyes. Small white spots appear on the inside of the mouth and throat but are not always present. Three to seven days after symptoms begin, a red, blotchy rash appears on the face and then progresses down the body.

The risk of transmission to those vaccinated with two doses is low, and when it does occur tends to show a reduction in the severity of these symptoms.

“Although we are relieved for the individual involved, and for all Simcoe-Muskoka residents, that this case has now been confirmed as negative, we know that measles is still active in Ontario at this time and the potential remains for new cases to arise, especially given the increase in Ontarians travelling to areas in the world that have higher numbers of measles cases,” said Dr. Gardner. “This is why we continue to advise individuals to keep up to date with their routine immunizations, including measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccination.”

The risk of measles is low for people who have been fully immunized with two doses of measles vaccine or those born before 1970; however, many children have been delayed in receiving their routine childhood immunizations and people who have not had two doses of measles vaccine are at higher risk of contracting the disease.

People who do get sick usually recover without treatment, but measles can be more severe for infants, pregnant women, and those with compromised immune systems. Possible complications include middle-ear infections, pneumonia, diarrhea, or encephalitis (swelling of the brain) and occasionally death in the very young. Even individuals who are up to date with the measles vaccine should watch for symptoms of measles for 21 days after exposure.

For more information about measles, please visit smdhu.org or call Health Connection at 705-721-7520 or 1-877-721-7520, Monday to Friday between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. to speak with a public health professional.

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Kate Middleton Not Alone. Cancer On Rise For People Under 50, Say Experts

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Kate Middleton revealed on Friday that her cancer was discovered after she received abdominal surgery

London:

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When Catherine, Princess of Wales, revealed she was being treated for cancer last week, part of the shock was that an otherwise healthy 42-year-old has a disease that mostly plagues older people.

However, researchers have been increasingly sounding the alarm that more and more people under 50 are getting cancer — and no one knows why.

Across the world, the rate of under-50s diagnosed with 29 common cancers surged by nearly 80 percent between 1990 and 2019, a large study in BMJ Oncology found last year.

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The researchers predicted the number of new cancer cases among younger adults will rise another 30 percent by the end of this decade, with wealthy countries particularly affected.

The increase in cases — and soaring global population — means that the number of deaths among under 50s from cancer has risen by nearly 28 percent over the last 30 years.

This occurred even as the odds of people of all ages surviving cancer have roughly doubled over the last half century.

Shivan Sivakumar, a cancer researcher at the UK’s University of Birmingham, called it an “epidemic” of young adult cancer.

Since Kate Middleton revealed on Friday that her cancer was discovered after she received abdominal surgery earlier this year, Sivakumar and other doctors have spoken out about the uptick in younger cancer patients they have been seeing at their clinics.

While breast cancer remains the most common for people under 50, the researchers expressed particular concern about the rise of gastrointestinal cancers — such as of the colon, pancreas, liver and oesophagus — in younger adults.

Colon cancer is now the leading cause of cancer deaths in men under 50 in the United States, according to the American Cancer Society. For women, it is number two — behind only breast cancer.

One high profile case of colorectal cancer was “Black Panther” actor Chadwick Boseman, who died at the age of 43 in 2020.

Why is this happening?

“We just don’t have the evidence yet” to say exactly what is causing this rise, Sivakumar told AFP, adding it was likely a combination of factors.

Helen Coleman, a cancer epidemiology professor at Queen’s University Belfast who has studied early onset cancer in Northern Ireland, told AFP there were two potential explanations.

One is that people in their 40s were exposed to factors known to cause cancer — such tobacco smoke, alcohol or being obese — at an earlier age than previous generations.

She pointed out that the “obesity epidemic” did not start until the 1980s.

Sivakumar felt that at least part of the puzzle could be explained by obesity.

However, there is “another wave” of under-50 patients who are neither obese nor genetically predisposed still getting cancer, he emphasised, adding that this could not be put down to “statistical chance”.

The other theory, Coleman said, is that “something different” has been going on with her generation.

Fingers have been pointed out a range of possible culprits — including chemicals, new drugs and microplastics — but none have been proven.

Some have suggested that so-called ultra-processed foods could be to blame. “But there’s very little data to back any of that up,” Coleman said.

Another theory is that the food we eat could be changing our gut microbiome.

While there is nothing conclusive yet, Coleman said her own research suggested that cancer causes changes to the microbiome, not the other way around.

Anti-vaxx conspiracy theorists have even tried to blame Covid-19 vaccines.

This is easily disproven, because the rise in young adult cancer has taken place over decades, but the vaccines have only been around for a few years.

What can be done?

To address the rise in younger colorectal cancer, in 2021 the US lowered the recommended age for screening to 45. Other countries have yet to follow suit.

But the researchers hoped that Catherine’s experience would remind people at home that they should consult their doctor if they sense anything is wrong.

“People know their bodies really well,” Sivakumar said.

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“If you really feel that something isn’t right, don’t delay — just get yourself checked out.”

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Almost 3,000 students suspended in Waterloo Region over immunization issues

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Close to 3,000 children attending elementary school across Waterloo Region were suspended from school on Wednesday morning for not having up-to-date immunization records.

The region says Waterloo Public Health suspended 2,969 students under the Immunization of School Pupils Act (ISPA).

For several months, the region has been campaigning for people to get their children’s vaccinations up to date, including sending letters home to parents on a couple of occasions, warning that students’ records needed to be up to date or they would be suspended.

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It announced in January that 32,000 students did not have up-to-date records: 22,000 elementary students and 10,000 high school students.


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“We have made remarkable progress from the original 27,567 immunization notices we sent to parents in November and December 2023,” Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang, medical officer of health, stated.

“Since that time, we have resolved more than 24,500 outdated vaccination records, providing students with valuable protection against these serious and preventable diseases.”

The high school students still have a few weeks to get their records up to date or else face suspension.

The ISPA requires students to have proof-of-vaccination records for diphtheria, polio, tetanus, pertussis, measles, mumps, rubella, varicella (chickenpox) and meningitis, which must be on file with public health.

Public health says caregivers whose children are suspended will need to book an appointment at regionofwaterloo.ca/vaccines for clinics, which will be held in Cambridge and Waterloo on weekdays.

“Given the high number of suspensions, it may take several days before you can be seen at an appointment and return your child to school,” a release from the region warns.

“Record submission and questions must be done in person to ensure immediate resolution.”

The last time suspensions over immunizations were issued was in 2019, when 1,032 students were suspended.

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