Health
Polio booster campaign – The Hippocratic Post
Polio booster campaign: Last month an unvaccinated man in Rockland county, New York contracted and became parylised by Poliomyelitis (Polio). This was the first recorded case of the disease for almost a decade in the United States.
The Polio virus, is a highly infectious disease which is transmitted person-to-person spread mainly through the faecal-oral route or, sometime less frequently, by contaminated water or food. The virus then multiplies in the intestine, from where it can invade the nervous system and cause paralysis.
Typically the virus attacks children, causing muscle weakness and paralysis, but in some cases patients will suffer permanent disability or death.
Once prevalent in the 1950’s, the virus was brought under control in the US by a national vaccination roll out in the mid 1950’s which led to its eradication by 1979, when the US was declared polio free. In the UK the last case was recorded in 1984.
Originally the vaccine for polio was a weakened version of the polio virus delivered in the form of drops, and those people of a certain age will recall being given a polio sugar cube as children, the method invented by Dr. Albert Sabin, of the Children’s Hospital Research Foundation in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Today most countries in the developed world use “inactivated Polio” injections as opposed to oral drops, because the “live” weakened virus in the drops causes a mild stomach infection which whilst it builds host immunity, the weakened “live” virus is also expelled in faeces into the environment. This in turn can lead to further mild infections within the community. The oral drops are still used by many countries in the developing world as a cheap way of responding to outbreaks and creating herd immunity.
The strain of polio virus which has been detected in sewerage in New York and London has been identified as a mutated form of vaccine-derived poliovirus brought into the respective cities by overseas travelers. Given vaccine reticence in recent years to follow health advice regarding immunisations, this new strain of polio could make a resurgence if left unchecked and current infections are projected to far greater than the case detected in Rockland County.
Dr Patricia Schnabel Ruppert, health commissioner for Rockland County, said she was worried about polio circulating in her state undetected.
“There isn’t just one case of polio if you see a paralytic case. The incidence of paralytic polio is less than 1%,” she told the BBC. ‘Most cases are asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic, and those symptoms are often missed. So there are hundreds, perhaps even thousands of cases that have occurred in order for us to see a paralytic case.’
As the polio vaccine continues to be included in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) standard child immunization schedule, those already vaccinated are not considered at significant risk.
Whilst there is a low risk posed from the emergence of the Polio virus in waste water, there is an easy solution to its elimination both here in the UK and across the pond. Health officials are sending a clear message to check that you are up to date with your own vaccinations and ensure that children’s routine vaccinations have not been neglected during the disruption of the covid pandemic. In addition, children aged 1 to 9 years old in London are being offered a dose of polio vaccine by the UK Government’s Polio booster campaign.
Health
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.”
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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Health
CFIA continues surveillance for HPAI in cattle, while sticking with original name for disease – RealAgriculture
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.
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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Health
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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