Health

A B.C. Ambulance Service paramedic moves a stretcher outside an ambulance at Royal Columbia Hospital, in New Westminster, B.C., on Sunday, Nov. 29, 2020. A third child has died in British Columbia due to complications linked to influenza, cases of which continue to rise in the province. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Flu complications claim 3rd child in B.C., as cases rise

Officials say influenza was a contributing factor but not necessarily primary cause of deaths

A B.C. Ambulance Service paramedic moves a stretcher outside an ambulance at Royal Columbia Hospital, in New Westminster, B.C., on Sunday, Nov. 29, 2020. A third child has died in British Columbia due to complications linked to influenza, cases of which continue to rise in the province. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
An Ontario woman who says she was sickened with a salmonella infection after eating cantaloupe is the lead plaintiff in a proposed class-action lawsuit against three companies linked to outbreaks across the country. Cantaloupe halves are displayed for sale at a supermarket in New York on Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023.THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Mary Conlon

Salmonella-tainted cantaloupes spark class-action lawsuit proposals

Suits filed in Quebec and Manitoba, pending in B.C. in wake of of illness and death

An Ontario woman who says she was sickened with a salmonella infection after eating cantaloupe is the lead plaintiff in a proposed class-action lawsuit against three companies linked to outbreaks across the country. Cantaloupe halves are displayed for sale at a supermarket in New York on Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023.THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Mary Conlon
Health authorities in British Columbia are warning the public about higher levels of strep bacterial infections among children. A doctor wears a lab coat and stethoscope in an exam room at a health clinic in Calgary, Friday, July 14, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

Strep infections spiking among B.C. children, health authorities warn

51 cases of group A streptococcal infections among people under 20 more than double the forecast

Health authorities in British Columbia are warning the public about higher levels of strep bacterial infections among children. A doctor wears a lab coat and stethoscope in an exam room at a health clinic in Calgary, Friday, July 14, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
British Columbia Health Minister Adrian Dix says almost all of the 666 international medical graduates registered in the province this year are now working as doctors, with more than half in family medicine. Dix attends an announcement for a new hospital in Surrey B.C. on Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns

Dix says foreign doctors giving B.C. family practice a booster shot

Health minister credits new government programs for up 700 additions to family practice medicine

British Columbia Health Minister Adrian Dix says almost all of the 666 international medical graduates registered in the province this year are now working as doctors, with more than half in family medicine. Dix attends an announcement for a new hospital in Surrey B.C. on Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns
Joe Holtz, second from left top, co-founder and general manager at Brooklyn’s Park Slope Co-Op grocery store, walks the store’s isles where a policy requires shoppers to mask-up Wednesdays and Thursdays, Thursday Dec. 7, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

Face masks now an occasional feature in the American landscape

Mask-wearing is much more off than on even as COVID’s long tail lingers

Joe Holtz, second from left top, co-founder and general manager at Brooklyn’s Park Slope Co-Op grocery store, walks the store’s isles where a policy requires shoppers to mask-up Wednesdays and Thursdays, Thursday Dec. 7, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
Sonja Mally misses her old life after being debilitated by long COVID for almost four years. Mally poses for a portrait in Toronto, Friday, Dec. 8, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

Hope and understanding slowly creep into Canada’s long COVID battle

Researchers still have a lot of work to do, but say progress slowly being made

Sonja Mally misses her old life after being debilitated by long COVID for almost four years. Mally poses for a portrait in Toronto, Friday, Dec. 8, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
British Columbia’s provincial government says it is going ahead with the construction of a “state-of-the-art” research centre at the new St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver. B.C. Premier David Eby holds a hard hat with a hospital sign affixed during an announcement in Surrey, B.C., Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns

$638M health research centre confirmed beside Vancouver hospital

Innovation from centre at new St. Paul’s hospital site expected to boost health and economy

British Columbia’s provincial government says it is going ahead with the construction of a “state-of-the-art” research centre at the new St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver. B.C. Premier David Eby holds a hard hat with a hospital sign affixed during an announcement in Surrey, B.C., Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns
Katie Hobson of Abbotsford now has a customized trailer to live in following a GoFundMe campaign that was started more than three years ago. (Submitted photo)

B.C. woman battling severe allergies finally gets her ‘tiny home’ sanctuary

Abbotsford’s Katie Hobson has extreme food and environmental sensitivities to almost everything

Katie Hobson of Abbotsford now has a customized trailer to live in following a GoFundMe campaign that was started more than three years ago. (Submitted photo)
Swedish researchers found that people with a diagnosis of hypochondriasis have an increased risk of death from both natural and unnatural causes, particularly suicide. (Pxhere)

Hypochondria paradox: those who fear serious illness tend to die sooner

Swedish study finds people with illness anxiety disorder have an increased risk of death

Swedish researchers found that people with a diagnosis of hypochondriasis have an increased risk of death from both natural and unnatural causes, particularly suicide. (Pxhere)
Cut cantaloupe is displayed for sale at a supermarket in Philadelphia on Sunday, Dec. 3, 2023. On Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023, U.S. and Canadian officials reported additional deaths in a salmonella outbreak tied to tainted cantaloupe. (AP Photo/Jonathan Poet)

Tainted cantaloupe death toll rises to 5 in Canada, 8 overall

15 cases related to salmonella outbreak in B.C., more than 300 affected across North America

Cut cantaloupe is displayed for sale at a supermarket in Philadelphia on Sunday, Dec. 3, 2023. On Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023, U.S. and Canadian officials reported additional deaths in a salmonella outbreak tied to tainted cantaloupe. (AP Photo/Jonathan Poet)
Movember was originally launched in Australia and has since become a worldwide movement to help men’s health issues. (File contributed/ Benjamin Wilson, spangdahlem.af.mil)

‘Mustaches and mental health’ Movember wraps up around B.C.

217,0000 men in Canada have been diagnosed with prostate cancer

Movember was originally launched in Australia and has since become a worldwide movement to help men’s health issues. (File contributed/ Benjamin Wilson, spangdahlem.af.mil)
A nurse holds defective breast implants in Nice, southern France, Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2012. In Canada, the House of Commons health committee is echoing long-standing calls from plastic surgeons and patient advocates for a national breast implant registry to prevent illness and problems linked to the medical devices. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Lionel Cironneau

Canada urged to create national breast implant registry

House of Commons committee recommends move to protect people when health issues arise

A nurse holds defective breast implants in Nice, southern France, Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2012. In Canada, the House of Commons health committee is echoing long-standing calls from plastic surgeons and patient advocates for a national breast implant registry to prevent illness and problems linked to the medical devices. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Lionel Cironneau
4-year-old Ciaro from West Kelowna is battling a brain tumour. (GoFundMe)

West Kelowna boy battling brain tumour

A GoFundMe has been set up for Ciaro and his grandma

  • Nov 23, 2023
4-year-old Ciaro from West Kelowna is battling a brain tumour. (GoFundMe)
FILE - This microscope photo provided on Oct. 25, 2023, by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows crescent-shaped red blood cells from a sickle cell disease patient in 1972. Britain’s medicines regulator has authorized the world’s first gene therapy treatment for sickle cell disease, in a move that could offer relief to thousands of people with the crippling disease in the U.K. In a statement on Thursday, Nov. 16, 2023, the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency said it approved Casgevy, the first medicine licensed using the gene editing tool CRISPR, which won its makers a Nobel prize in 2020. (Dr. F. Gilbert/CDC via AP, File )

UK 1st country to approve gene therapy treatment for sickle cell, thalassemia

Country has approved Casgevy, the first medicine licensed using the gene editing tool CRISPR

FILE - This microscope photo provided on Oct. 25, 2023, by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows crescent-shaped red blood cells from a sickle cell disease patient in 1972. Britain’s medicines regulator has authorized the world’s first gene therapy treatment for sickle cell disease, in a move that could offer relief to thousands of people with the crippling disease in the U.K. In a statement on Thursday, Nov. 16, 2023, the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency said it approved Casgevy, the first medicine licensed using the gene editing tool CRISPR, which won its makers a Nobel prize in 2020. (Dr. F. Gilbert/CDC via AP, File )
Linda Riches, shown in this handout image, tried at least 12 different antidepressants before one worked for her, but she says genetic testing that is publicly funded could help alleviate that type of trial-and-error process so people don’t have to keep struggling while trying so many medications that don’t work for them. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO

Free genetic testing could save country near $1B, UBC study suggests

Matching Canadians with right anti-depressants through pharmacogenomic testing could also save lives

Linda Riches, shown in this handout image, tried at least 12 different antidepressants before one worked for her, but she says genetic testing that is publicly funded could help alleviate that type of trial-and-error process so people don’t have to keep struggling while trying so many medications that don’t work for them. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO
Health spending in Canada is on track to reach $344 billion in 2023, new data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information says. A doctor wears a lab coat and stethoscope in an exam room at a health clinic in Calgary, Alta., Friday, July 14, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

Canada’s health spending growth ‘modest,’ remains below pre-pandemic levels

The spending works out to about $8,740 per person: report

Health spending in Canada is on track to reach $344 billion in 2023, new data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information says. A doctor wears a lab coat and stethoscope in an exam room at a health clinic in Calgary, Alta., Friday, July 14, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
Doctors say it’s important to get the updated version of the COVID-19 vaccine, which offers protection against the XBB.1.5 subvariant driving a current rise in cases. A pharmacist prepares to administer a Moderna Spikevax COVID-19 vaccine at a CVS, Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023, in Cypress, Texas. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Melissa Phillip-Houston Chronicle via AP

Doctors say we need the new COVID shot. So why haven’t we heard more about it?

B.C. taking more proactive approach than other provinces with notification system

Doctors say it’s important to get the updated version of the COVID-19 vaccine, which offers protection against the XBB.1.5 subvariant driving a current rise in cases. A pharmacist prepares to administer a Moderna Spikevax COVID-19 vaccine at a CVS, Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023, in Cypress, Texas. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Melissa Phillip-Houston Chronicle via AP
In Oct. 2022, the Federal Drug Administration in the United States announced a shortage of Adderall, but (Black Press Media file photo)

B.C. not facing an immediate shortage of ADHD drugs

Start of ADHD drug shortage in the United States dates back to Oct. 2022

In Oct. 2022, the Federal Drug Administration in the United States announced a shortage of Adderall, but (Black Press Media file photo)
A Florida Department of Health employee processes a urine sample on Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2016. In B.C., residents in eight communities have the option of ordering their own lab requisitions for STI tests, instead of having to wait for a doctor’s appointment. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

B.C. online STI testing service seeing 3,000 people a month

Get Checked Online allows people to order their own lab requisitions, instead of waiting on a doctor

A Florida Department of Health employee processes a urine sample on Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2016. In B.C., residents in eight communities have the option of ordering their own lab requisitions for STI tests, instead of having to wait for a doctor’s appointment. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Lindsay Sutherland Boal, seen in an undated handout photo, says a new national guideline for family doctors to screen patients for high-risk drinking and alcohol use disorder is important because people who are struggling to control their drinking, like she once did, need to know they won’t be judged and can get help. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Lindsay Sutherland Boal

Canadians and their doctors need to have better talks about alcohol

Patients and practitioners lacking the information that could lead to better health

Lindsay Sutherland Boal, seen in an undated handout photo, says a new national guideline for family doctors to screen patients for high-risk drinking and alcohol use disorder is important because people who are struggling to control their drinking, like she once did, need to know they won’t be judged and can get help. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Lindsay Sutherland Boal