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Flu season: Pediatric hospitalizations on the rise

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The number of people battling the flu is soaring across the country.

According to the Public Health Agency of Canada’s latest FluWatch report, the virus is spreading across much of Canada.

“At the national level, influenza activity has crossed the seasonal threshold, indicating the start of an influenza epidemic,” the report states. “All surveillance indicators are increasing and most are above expected levels typical of this time of year.”

The national test positivity rate alone nearly doubled in a week, jumping from 6.3 per cent to 11.7 per cent, surpassing the five per cent threshold that puts the country in an epidemic. The hardest-hit communities appear to be located within Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and New Brunswick.

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Ryan Weichel’s six-year-old daughter, Sunny, is one of them. Just before her birthday, Sunny spent four days in hospital fighting the flu.

“She endured a lot the last couple weeks. The first five hours she just wanted to go home. Very difficult,” Weichel told CTV News.

He said Sunny had a relentless fever which led to a trip to the ER, where she tested positive for Influenza A. Dehydrated and needing treatment, she was admitted to pediatric care after a 12-hour wait. She’s finally now home and on the mend.

“It was a very scary situation,” Weichel said. “It could become worse and worse as time went on, if we weren’t able to manage the fever and manage the hydration situation.”

The Weichels are among an increasing number of families dealing with the flu.

Dr. Colin Furness is an infection control epidemiologist and an assistant professor at the University of Toronto’s faculty of information.

“Influenza is very unpredictable,” Furness told CTV News from Toronto. “Sometimes it comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb, sometimes the reverse, sometimes neither. That is a big mystery.”

Scientists can look to the southern hemisphere for what’s to come. Australia also had an early flu season with a high number of infections. But even in typical years, the death toll can be high.

“A typical influenza season isn’t mild,” Dr. Alyson Kelvin, a virologist at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization at the University of Saskatchewan, told CTV News. “We lose about 3,000 people per year in Canada because of influenza.”

Seasonal influenza epidemics occur in most years, but in 2020 and 2021, COVID-19 restrictions drastically reduce the spread. During those flu seasons, the test positivity rate didn’t even reach one per cent. This season will be different, and right now, kids are the most impacted.

The latest FluWatch report from the week of Oct. 30 to Nov. 5 shows that hospitalizations for those 16 and younger have risen to more than 70, from 40 the week before and seven the week before that. Children between two and four, and between 10 and 16 years old, account for 27 per cent of hospitalizations, while those five to nine made up 24 per cent. Current test positivity rates are now above seasonal averages dating back to 2014.

Pediatric hospitals have meanwhile reported being overcapacity as a result of the latest waves of respiratory illnesses live influenza, RSV and COVID-19. Doctors and hospital administrators also have spoken publicly about a shortage of staff.

“How this intermingles with COVID and other viruses… I don’t have a crystal ball,” Kelvin, from the University of Saskatchewan, said, indicating that that’s what she’ll be watching over the next several weeks.

Experts say the flu shot is effective against the influenza strains circulating right now—if people get it.

With files from CTVNews.ca’s Michael Lee

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RCMP warn about benzodiazepine-laced fentanyl tied to overdose in Alberta – Edmonton Journal

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Grande Prairie RCMP issued a warning Friday after it was revealed fentanyl linked to a deadly overdose was mixed with a chemical that doesn’t respond to naloxone treatment.

The drugs were initially seized on Feb. 28 after a fatal overdose, and this week, Health Canada reported back to Mounties that the fentanyl had been mixed with Bromazolam, which is a benzodiazepine.

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Mounties say this is the first recorded instance of Bromazolam in Alberta. The drug has previously been linked to nine fatal overdoses in New Brunswick in 2022.

The pills seized in Alberta were oval-shaped and stamped with “20” and “SS,” though Mounties say it can come in other forms.

Naloxone treatment, given in many cases of opioid toxicity, is not effective in reversing the effects of Bromazalam, Mounties said, and therefore, any fentanyl mixed with the benzodiazepine “would see a reduced effectiveness of naloxone, requiring the use of additional doses and may still result in a fatality.”

Photo of benzodiazepine-laced fentanyl seized earlier this year by Grande Prairie RCMP after a fatal overdose. edm

From January to November of last year, there were 1,706 opioid-related deaths in Alberta, and 57 linked to benzodiazepine, up from 1,375 and 43, respectively, in 2022.

Mounties say officers responded to about 1,100 opioid-related calls for service, last year with a third of those proving fatal. RCMP officers also used naloxone 67 times while in the field, a jump of nearly a third over the previous year.

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CFIA continues surveillance for HPAI in cattle, while sticking with original name for disease – RealAgriculture

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The Canada Food Inspection Agency will continue to refer to highly pathogenic avian influenza in cattle as HPAI in cattle, and not refer to it as bovine influenza A virus (BIAV), as suggested by the American Association of Bovine Practitioners earlier this month.

Dr. Martin Appelt, senior director for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, in the interview below, says at this time Canada will stick with “HPAI in cattle” when referencing the disease that’s been confirmed in dairy cattle in multiple states in the U.S.

The CFIA’s naming policy is consistent with the agency’s U.S. counterparts’, as the U.S. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has also said it will continue referring to it as HPAI or H5N1.

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Appelt explains how the CFIA is learning from the U.S. experience to-date, and how it is working with veterinarians across Canada to stay vigilant for signs of the disease in dairy and beef cattle.

As of April 19, there has not been a confirmed case of HPAI in cattle in Canada. Appelt says it’s too soon to say if an eventual positive case will significantly restrict animal movement, as is the case with positive poultry cases.

This is a major concern for the cattle industry, as beef cattle especially move north and south across the U.S. border by the thousands. Appelt says that CFIA will address an infection in each species differently in conjunction with how the disease is spread and the threat to neighbouring farms or livestock.

Currently, provincial dairy organizations have advised producers to postpone any non-essential tours of dairy barns, as a precaution, in addition to other biosecurity measures to reduce the risk of cattle contracting HPAI.

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Toronto reports 2 more measles cases. Use our tool to check the spread in Canada – Toronto Star

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Canada has seen a concerning rise in measles cases in the first months of 2024.

By the third week of March, the country had already recorded more than three times the number of cases as all of last year. Canada had just 12 cases of measles in 2023, up from three in 2022.

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