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COVID-19 and flu test positivity rates up, RSV rates down slightly

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While the number of Manitobans being hospitalized with COVID-19 and RSV is down slightly, positivity rates of tests for COVID-19 and influenza have gone up in the latest provincial data.

There were 53 people sent to hospital with COVID-19 during the week of March 5-11, said the latest report from public health, released Friday.

COVID-19 intensive care unit admissions increased to nine, up slightly from eight during the week of Feb. 26 to March 4.

Another four COVID-19 deaths were recorded in the latest report, double the two reported last week.

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The COVID-19 test positivity rate is up slightly at 14.7 per cent, from 14.2 per cent the previous week, the report said.

Outbreaks in long-term care facilities increased to six from the two reported a week ago.

Wastewater surveillance data up to March 9 showed COVID-19 levels slightly decreasing in Winnipeg and Brandon compared to last fall. The data shows a lower peak in late February and early March, with levels slowly trending down since then.

There were 129 new COVID-19 cases reported, which is a decrease from the week before, when there were 150 new cases. However, the true number of cases is likely much higher, as the province does not collect data from home tests.

Influenza

Influenza testing results were not reported last week, but influenza testing rates this week are up since last reported the week of Feb. 19-25.

There were no new influenza-related hospital admissions, no ICU admissions and no deaths reported this week.

Influenza A positivity rate is up 0.4 per cent from the last reporting period of Feb. 19-25, which was at 0.1 per cent. Influenza B is still reporting at 0 per cent during this week’s reporting period.

RSV

Test positivity and cases of RSV are down from the previous reporting period of Feb. 19-25.

Test positivity has decreased from 5.7 per cent to three per cent and detected cases of RSV have decreased from 56 to 40, the report said.

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Remnants of bird flu virus found in pasteurized milk, FDA says – Hamilton Spectator

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday that samples of pasteurized milk had tested positive for remnants of the bird flu virus that has infected dairy cows.

The agency stressed that the material is inactivated and that the findings “do not represent actual virus that may be a risk to consumers.” Officials added that they’re continuing to study the issue.

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Interior Health delivers nearly 800K immunization doses in 2023

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Interior Health says it delivered nearly 800,000 immunization doses last year — a number almost equal to the region’s population.

The released figure of 784,980 comes during National Immunization Awareness Week, which runs April 22-30.

The health care organization, which serves a large area of around 820,000,  says it’s using the occasion to boost vaccine rates even though there may be post-pandemic vaccine fatigue.

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“This is a very important initiative because it ensures that communicable diseases stay away from a region,” said Dr. Silvina Mema of Interior Health.

However, not all those doses were for COVID; the tally includes childhood immunizations plus immunizations for adults.

But IHA said immunizations are down from the height of the pandemic, when COVID vaccines were rolled out, though it seems to be on par with previous pre-pandemic years.

Interior Health says it’d like to see the overall immunization rate rise.

“Certainly there are some folks who have decided a vaccine is not for them. And they have their reasons,” said Jonathan Spence, manager of communicable disease prevention and control at Interior Health.

“I think there’s a lot of people who are hesitant, but that’s just simply because they have questions.

“And that’s actually part of what we’re celebrating this week is those public health nurses, those pharmacists, who can answer questions and answer questions with really good information around immunization.”

Mima echoed that sentiment.

“We take immunization very seriously. It’s a science-based program that has saved countless lives across the world and eliminated diseases that were before a threat and now we don’t see them anymore,” she said.

“So immunization is very important.”

 

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Remnants of bird flu virus found in pasteurized milk, FDA says

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday that samples of pasteurized milk had tested positive for remnants of the bird flu virus that has infected dairy cows.

The agency stressed that the material is inactivated and that the findings “do not represent actual virus that may be a risk to consumers.” Officials added that they’re continuing to study the issue.

“To date, we have seen nothing that would change our assessment that the commercial milk supply is safe,” the FDA said in a statement.

The announcement comes nearly a month after an avian influenza virus that has sickened millions of wild and commercial birds in recent years was detected in dairy cows in at least eight states. The Agriculture Department says 33 herds have been affected to date.

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FDA officials didn’t indicate how many samples they tested or where they were obtained. The agency has been evaluating milk during processing and from grocery stores, officials said. Results of additional tests are expected in “the next few days to weeks.”

The PCR lab test the FDA used would have detected viral genetic material even after live virus was killed by pasteurization, or heat treatment, said Lee-Ann Jaykus, an emeritus food microbiologist and virologist at North Carolina State University

“There is no evidence to date that this is infectious virus and the FDA is following up on that,” Jaykus said.

Officials with the FDA and the USDA had previously said milk from affected cattle did not enter the commercial supply. Milk from sick animals is supposed to be diverted and destroyed. Federal regulations require milk that enters interstate commerce to be pasteurized.

Because the detection of the bird flu virus known as Type A H5N1 in dairy cattle is new and the situation is evolving, no studies on the effects of pasteurization on the virus have been completed, FDA officials said. But past research shows that pasteurization is “very likely” to inactivate heat-sensitive viruses like H5N1, the agency added.

Matt Herrick, a spokesman for the International Dairy Foods Association, said that time and temperature regulations for pasteurization ensure that the commercial U.S. milk supply is safe. Remnants of the virus “have zero impact on human health,” he wrote in an email.

Scientists confirmed the H5N1 virus in dairy cows in March after weeks of reports that cows in Texas were suffering from a mysterious malady. The cows were lethargic and saw a dramatic reduction in milk production. Although the H5N1 virus is lethal to commercial poultry, most infected cattle seem to recover within two weeks, experts said.

To date, two people in U.S. have been infected with bird flu. A Texas dairy worker who was in close contact with an infected cow recently developed a mild eye infection and has recovered. In 2022, a prison inmate in a work program caught it while killing infected birds at a Colorado poultry farm. His only symptom was fatigue, and he recovered.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

 

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