Health

Rwanda says eight people have died so far from the Ebola-like and highly contagious Marburg virus, just days after the country declared an outbreak of the deadly hemorrhagic fever that has no authorized vaccine or treatment.

Like Ebola, the Marburg virus originates in fruit bats and spreads between people through close contact with the bodily fluids of infected individuals or with surfaces, such as contaminated bed sheets. Without treatment, Marburg can be fatal in up to 88 per cent of people who fall ill with the disease.

Rwanda, a landlocked country in central Africa, declared an outbreak on Friday and a day later the first six deaths were reported.

So far 26 cases have been confirmed, and eight of the sickened people have died, Health Minister Sabin Nsanzimana said on Sunday night.

The public has been urged to avoid physical contact to help curb the spread. Some 300 people who came into contact with those confirmed to have the virus have also been identified, and an unspecified number of them have been put in isolation facilities.

Most of the affected are healthcare workers across six out of 30 districts in the country.

1:52
WHO says 4 high-risk contacts identified after case of Marburg virus reported in Guinea

“Marburg is a rare disease,” Nsanzimana told journalists. “We are intensifying contact tracing and testing to help stop the spread.”

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The minister said the source of the disease has not been determined yet. A person infected with the virus can take between three days and three weeks to show symptoms, he added.

Symptoms include fever, muscle pains, diarrhea, vomiting and, in some cases, death through extreme blood loss.

The World Health Organization was scaling up its support and will work with Rwandan authorities to help stop the spread, WHO’s Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Saturday on the social media platform X.

The U.S Embassy in Rwanda’s capital of Kigali has urged its staff to work remotely and avoid visiting offices.

Marburg outbreaks and individual cases have in the past been recorded in Tanzania, Equatorial Guinea, Angola, Congo, Kenya, South Africa, Uganda and Ghana, according to the WHO.

The rare virus was first identified in 1967 after it caused simultaneous outbreaks of disease in laboratories in Marburg, Germany, and Belgrade, Serbia. Seven people died who were exposed to the virus while conducting research on monkeys.

Separately, Rwanda has so far reported six cases of mpox, a disease caused by a virus related to smallpox but that typically causes milder symptoms. Mpox, previously known as monkeypox because it was first seen in research monkeys, has also affected several other African countries in what the WHO has called a global health emergency.

Rwanda launched an mpox vaccination campaign earlier this month, and more vaccines are expected to arrive in the country. Neighboring Congo has so far reported most of the cases of mpox, the epicenter of the emergency.

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Dr. Noah Ivers remembers thinking his infant son just had a cold.

But then, he was “clearly struggling to breathe” and had to be rushed to the hospital.

His son had respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV — a common illness with often mild symptoms in children and adults. But for infants and seniors, RSV is a major cause of serious lower respiratory tract infections that can land them in hospital.

Despite his medical knowledge, Ivers said seeing his baby with an oxygen mask left him feeling “unempowered.”

“The most you could do in that moment was hug them and hope,” said Ivers, who is both a primary care physician and a scientist at Women’s College Hospital in Toronto.

That happened about nine years ago, he said, noting there’s no antiviral treatment for RSV — so shielding infants from serious illness in the first place is key.

5:56
Quebec is first province to offer RSV shots for babies free of charge

But until this year, babies across Canada were only given an antibody drug that protects against severe RSV if they were born prematurely or had other significant risk factors. For years, that antibody was palivizumab, which had to be given every month throughout the RSV season to maintain immunity.

This fall and winter, Ontario, Quebec and Nunavut will offer the newer monoclonal antibody nirsevimab — approved by Health Canada in the spring of 2023 —  to all babies going through their first RSV season.

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Unlike palivizumab, only one dose of nirsevimab is needed to provide protection throughout the fall and winter, when RSV is most widely circulating.

Although they are administered by injection, nirsevimab and palivizumab are not vaccines, which provoke the body’s immune system to develop antibodies and other defences against a certain virus or bacteria.

Instead, they are already formed antibodies that give passive immunity against serious illness from RSV.

Last May, the National Advisory Committee on Immunization changed its guidelines to recommend “building towards a universal RSV immunization program for all infants” in Canada using nirsevimab, given the “significant burden of disease in all infants from RSV and the impacts of RSV on the Canadian health system.”

Ontario, Quebec and Nunavut are the first provinces and territory to adopt that recommendation and offer nirsevimab to all infants free of charge — a move Ivers welcomes “as a family doc and also as a parent who’s been through this.”

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Respiratory illness season update

“If there’s something you could do to prevent your kid becoming short of breath and watching them with their ribs heaving in and out and you’re watching them needing to get an oxygen mask — if there’s something simple in your power to do that, please, you know, take advantage of it,” he said.

The other provinces and territories have not announced a universal RSV antibody program for this year. According to their websites, many of them are continuing to offer palivizumab, and only to premature and other high-risk infants.

In an email to The Canadian Press, the Saskatchewan ministry of health said it is “currently assessing” how to best use nirsevimab going forward.

In Ontario, “all infants up to 12 months old, and children up to 24 months who are at high risk of severe illness from RSV are eligible for immunization,” the provincial ministry of health website says.

Ivers said starting this month, hospitals in Ontario will offer nirsevimab to newborn babies. Doctors can also give infants the injection along with their routine vaccinations at the two and four-month marks, he said.

1:54
Low vaccine uptake fuels spike in respiratory illnesses: health officials

In Quebec, all infants born on or after April 2 of this year will be eligible for nirsevimab, according to the provincial website. It’s not clear exactly when the injections will become available in that province.

Older babies with conditions that put them at higher risk of severe illness from RSV — including cystic fibrosis, lung and heart conditions — may also get nirsevimab during their second RSV season in Quebec.

Nunavut will also provide the antibody injection to newborns and infants during their first RSV season, as well as children up to 24 months old who continue to be at risk of severe illness. The territory has not yet confirmed specifically when it will be available.

Although infants born prematurely are at higher risk of getting very sick with RSV, it’s full-term infants who have made up the majority of hospitalizations each season, Ivers said.

“They were healthy and unlucky,” he said.

Ivers, who declared no affiliation or financial connection to the manufacturers of the monoclonal antibodies, said the preventive RSV treatment will also help the health-care system overall this respiratory virus season.

“If we have thousands less babies in the hospital, there’s room suddenly in our system to do so much more,” he said.

“There’s knock-on effects that is beyond just the individual babies and their families that we’re protecting.”

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A Georgia judge on Monday struck down the state’s abortion law, which took effect in 2022 and effectively prohibited abortions beyond about six weeks of pregnancy.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney wrote in his order that the law violates Georgia’s Constitution, finding that “liberty in Georgia includes in its meaning, in its protections, and in its bundle of rights the power of a woman to control her own body, to decide what happens to it and in it, and to reject state interference with her healthcare choices.”

When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 and ended a national right to abortion, it opened the door for state bans. Thirteen states now bar abortion at all stages of pregnancy, with some exceptions. Georgia was one of four where bans begin after about the first six weeks of pregnancy — often before women realize they’re pregnant.

McBurney’s ruling would allow abortions through at least 20 weeks of pregnancy.

Kara Murray, a spokesperson for Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, said he would immediately appeal to the state supreme court. The state high court earlier reversed a separate ruling by McBurney that had struck down the law on different grounds and could put Monday’s ruling on hold pending an appeal.

“We believe Georgia’s life act is fully constitutional,” Murray said.

1:44
People hold protest in Georgia against new abortion bill

The bans have been felt deeply in the South because many people live hundreds of miles from states where abortion procedures can be obtained legally. If the Georgia ruling stands, it could open new avenues to access abortion not only in Georgia, but for people in nearby states.

Georgia’s law was passed by state lawmakers and signed by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp in 2019 but it was initially blocked from taking effect until the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which had protected the right to an abortion for nearly 50 years.

Kemp has in the past tried to soften its political impact by trying to focus on the health of mothers. Monday, he attacked the ruling.

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“Once again, the will of Georgians and their representatives has been overruled by the personal beliefs of one judge,” Kemp said in a statement. “Protecting the lives of the most vulnerable among us is one of our most sacred responsibilities, and Georgia will continue to be a place where we fight for the lives of the unborn.”

Carol Tobias, president of the National Right to Life Committee, called the ruling “ridiculous.”

“This judge is an activist judge who is ignoring higher court rulings to do what he wants,” she said in an interview. “And I don’t think it’s going to stand.”

Monica Simpson, executive director of SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, celebrated the ruling.

“Since we’ve seen these direct attacks here in the South, in particular, on abortion access, we have been in a deep defensive posture for a really long time,” she said. “It feels like our work has not been in vain.”

2:03
Florida signs 6-week abortion ban into law

While carafem, an abortion provider in Atlanta, plans to expand its services as permitted over the next several weeks, co-founder Melissa Grant said she fears a reversal.

“Staff and clients will be living with this possibility hanging over immediate change, and that can be devastating to people who are trying to plan their lives and try to take care of their health,” Grant said.

Kwajelyn Jackson, executive director of Feminist Women’s Health Center, another Atlanta abortion provider, said they “will not be turning patients away based on the presence or absence of fetal cardiac activity, and so for as long as we are able, we’re hopeful that we’ll be able to care for patients who need services from us.”

Georgia’s law prohibited most abortions once a “detectable human heartbeat” was present. Cardiac activity can be detected by ultrasound in an embryo’s cells that will eventually become the heart at around six weeks into a pregnancy.

Before the law kicked in, there were more than 4,400 abortions each month in Georgia. That has dropped a monthly average of about 2,400 since the ban began in 2022 according to data from the Society of Family Planning.

The ruling means the law in the state reverts to its prior status, allowing abortions until roughly 20 weeks into a pregnancy, McBurney wrote.

The right to privacy in the Georgia Constitution includes the right to make personal healthcare decisions, he wrote.

“When a fetus growing inside a woman reaches viability, when society can assume care and responsibility for that separate life, then — and only then — may society intervene,” McBurney wrote.

An “arbitrary six-week ban” on abortions “is inconsistent with these rights and the proper balance that a viability rule establishes between a woman’s rights of liberty and privacy and society’s interest in protecting and caring for unborn infants,” the order says.

3:11
Idaho sued by U.S. over ‘near-total’ abortion ban

Claire Bartlett, executive director of the Georgia Life Alliance, expressed confidence that the Georgia Supreme Court would again overturn McBurney, saying he wrongly attempted “to create a right to abortion out of whole cloth by finding that it resides in our Constitution.”

“It’s just ironic that based on his decision on Georgia’s constitutional protection against a person being deprived of life, liberty or property, which is what the argument was, that he chose to focus on a woman’s right to liberty rather than the child’s right to life,” Bartlett said.

In part because Georgia has no way for citizens to place initiatives on the ballot, there’s no referendum on abortion rights scheduled for Georgia’s election this year. But Democrats have focused on abortion as they appeal to women and suburbanites.

On Sept. 20, Vice President Kamala Harris visited Atlanta to cast Republican Donald Trump as a threat to women’s freedom and lives, warning Trump would limit abortion access even more if reelected. It’s also a key issue in state legislative races as Democrats try to cut into Republican majorities.

Harris’ visit came after ProPublica reported that two women in the state died after they didn’t get proper medical treatment for complications from taking abortion pills to end their pregnancies. Democrats argue such deaths were a predictable outcome of restrictive laws

Harris has been outspoken on abortion rights ever since the Supreme Court’s decision more than two years ago.

Associated Press writers Charlotte Kramon in Atlanta and Geoff Mulvihill in Philadelphia contributed reporting.

TORONTO – The Toronto Raptors begin their pre-season training camp on Tuesday in Montreal. Here are five things to know about what the Raptors’ pre-season will look like.

NEVER REALLY STOPPED — Head coach Darko Rajakovic held mini-camps for his players throughout the summer. Backup centre Kelly Olynyk of Kamloops, B.C., said he was eager to attend the camp in Spain after he was done with Team Canada at the Paris Olympics. He said that it was helpful to continue to get to know his teammates after being traded from the Utah Jazz to Toronto on Feb. 8.

“Looking back last year, obviously I got traded at the trade deadline, there was a bunch of moves that were made, brought in a bunch of new guys,” said Olynyk on Monday. “We played probably six quarters together, and then everybody got hurt or out or a lot of different stuff happened where we never got to really be together, play together, build any chemistry or continuity.

“That was my reasoning. I needed to get with these guys and start to build some chemistry, some continuity, some connectivity, and really start to jell.”

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YOUTH MOVEMENT — Toronto added some promising prospects to its roster at the NBA Draft on June 26 and 27. The Raptors took Baylor guard Ja’Kobe Walter (19th overall) in the first round. Then added San Francisco forward Jonathan Mogbo (31st), Houston guard Jamal Shead (45th) and NBA Academy Africa centre Ulrich Chomche (57th) in the second.

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“There’s going to be times when those guys will be on the roster, there’s going to be times when those guys will be in rotation, maybe starting,” said Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic. “There will also be times when those guys will need to go to (G-League affiliate) Raptors 905 and play games and practice with that team so they can get more reps or develop on certain things that we will lay in front of them.”

INJURED GUARDS — Although Walter will likely be a big part of Toronto’s future, he will not participate in on-court activities at training camp after sustaining a shoulder injury. The Raptors said Walter sprained his right acromioclavicular joint — where the collar bone joins the scapula — during informal workouts this week. Veteran forward Bruce Brown will also miss camp after he had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee. Brown averaged 9.6 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 26.0 minutes in 34 games (11 starts) for Toronto last season.

NO LONGER A ROOKIE — Gradey Dick was selected 13th overall by Toronto in the 2023 NBA Draft. The Raptors one-and-only rookie last season was saddled with all of the razzing and menial tasks associated with being a first-year player last season. The 20-year-old said on Monday he was eager to be relieved of that burden.

“I guess I’m technically a rookie to the first game, so I’m not clear yet,” laughed Dick. “My rookie duty was always the playing cards on the plane, but I already saw in the group chat, someone else is going to get them now so that feels amazing.”

PRE-SEASON SCHEDULE — Toronto will play five pre-season games, including one at Scotiabank Arena. The Raptors will host the Washington Wizards on Oct. 6 at Montreal’s Bell Centre, before facing the Wizards in Washington on Oct. 11. They’ll then have a home-and-home series with the Boston Celtics on Oct. 13 and Oct. 15 before wrapping up the pre-season by travelling to Brooklyn to face the Nets on Oct. 18.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 30, 2024.

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A new study is warning that children’s eye health around the world may be on the decline.

Nearly one in three were nearsighted in 2023 and that’s expected to rise in the next two decades.

The study, published Tuesday in the British Journal of Ophthalmology, analyzed the results of 276 studies that involved more than 5.4 million children from 50 countries across six continents.

According to the numbers, those with nearsightedness rose from 24 per cent in 1990 to almost 36 per cent as of last year. But projections by the study’s researchers showed the number could hit almost 40 per cent in 2050.

Though the researchers said the rise in the rate of myopia has been gradual, the study said the increase was “notable” after the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, pointing to countries implementing lockdowns that sent many children to learn online indoors.

It said there has been concern a decrease in outdoor activity and an increase in screen time due to these “extended periods of staying indoors” may have had a potential negative impact on eye health.

Nearsightedness, also known as myopia, is a condition in which near objects can be seen clearly but distant objects are out of focus, according to the Canadian Association of Optometrists.

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The study notes myopia typically starts in early childhood and “tends to worsen as individuals progress from childhood to adolescence and eventually into adulthood,” with younger children more susceptible due to environmental factors.

Children in urban areas were also found to be at a higher risk of myopia, the study found, with girls more likely than boys to develop it.

Depending on the country, the research found the estimated prevalence varied across continents, with Asia exhibiting the highest at about 35 per cent and Latin America and the Caribbean on the opposite end sitting at almost four per cent.

4:28
Child myopia and the warning signs every parent needs to know

In terms of countries with available data, the study found myopia highest in Japan and lowest in Paraguay. Researchers go on to note that Japan, the Republic of Korea and Russia topped the list of children who were nearsighted at 86 per cent, 74 per cent and 46 per cent, respectively.

According to the data, Canada sat at about 17 per cent.

There are things, however, people can do to try and prevent nearsightedness.

Researchers stressed the need for youth to “develop the habit of regularly practicing eye-protective measures.”

This includes increasing physical activity and decreasing the time spent watching TV, playing video games and being online, adding that more action needs to be taken by governments.

“In view of the rising prevalence of myopia in school-age children, government health administration departments should implement policies aimed at reducing the burden of excessive homework and off-campus tutoring on young students,” they wrote, adding that regular physical examinations should be conducted and early detection and treatment promoted.

According to the Canadian Association of Optometrists, if your child is diagnosed, glasses or contact lenses are the most common form of vision correction, though the prescription may change or stay the same as they grow.

As a child grows, some people with myopia may consider surgery to reduce or fix myopia, ranging from LASIK to artificial lens implants, though typically these can only be accessed once you are 18 years or older.

For those considering such surgeries, the Alberta government advises if your vision doesn’t bother you and you have no driving issues or safety concerns, treatment is not a necessity.

“If glasses or contact lenses are inconvenient for your work or lifestyle, surgery may be a good choice,” the government writes on its health information website. “But nearsightedness is not a disease, and a nearsighted eye is otherwise normal and healthy.”

The government adds people should weigh the desire to not have to wear glasses against the risk and cost of surgery, noting that there is also the potential you may still have to wear glasses or contacts after the procedure.

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Semaglutide, the key component in popular medications like Ozempic and Wegovy, may potentially help treat and prevent opioid overdoses, new research suggests.

A U.S. peer-reviewed study published on Wednesday in the JAMA Network Open journal showed that semaglutide was associated with a reduced risk of opioid overdose in patients with Type 2 diabetes and opioid use disorder.

Researchers studied 33,006 patients diagnosed with both Type 2 diabetes and opioid use disorder. Of these patients, 3,034 were prescribed semaglutide and the rest other diabetes medications.

“Semaglutide was associated with a significantly lower risk of opioid overdose during a 1-year follow-up compared with other antidiabetic medications,” the authors wrote.

They said the results of the study suggest semaglutide’s “potential therapeutic value for preventing overdoses.”

The research needs further validation with more data and study populations, but it offers some hope to patients struggling with opioid addiction.

1:51
Fatal opioid overdoses surge in Ontario shelters: report

Canada’s opioid crisis, which worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic, has claimed thousands of lives across the country.

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Since 2016, there have been more than 47,000 opioid-related deaths in Canada. Between January and March this year, 1,906 apparent opioid toxicity deaths were reported, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada.

The majority (81 per cent) of the accidental opioid-related deaths this year have involved fentanyl.

In recent years, Canada, like other countries, has seen a high demand for medications like Ozempic, which is primarily approved for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes but has been used off-label for weight loss.

Wegovy, an on-label weight loss medication made by the same manufacturer and containing the same drug as Ozempic but at a higher formulation, also recently became available to Canadians.

1:52
Semaglutide associated with blindness risk, study suggests

Research has pointed to health benefits of using these drugs other than what they’re prescribed for. Some studies have also shown risks of stomach paralysis, pancreatitis and bowel obstruction as well as irreversible vision loss and blindness from using these drugs.

A study published in the Nature journal in May found that semaglutide may reduce the risk of alcohol use disorder in patients with Type 2 diabetes or obesity.

Company data released last year by Ozempic maker Novo Nordisk also showed that its Wegovy drug could have heart-protective benefits.

Early data from the Danish drugmaker’s Select trial demonstrated that Wegovy, which has been shown to help patients lose an average of 15 per cent of their weight, also reduced incidence of heart attack, stroke or death from heart disease by 20 per cent.

Semaglutide, the key ingredient in Wegovy and Ozempic, belongs to the GLP-1 class of drugs, which work by helping control blood sugar levels and triggering a feeling of fullness.

— with files from Reuters

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Danone Canada is recalling a brand of yogurt sold at Costco warehouses this month, the company said in a press release.

The recall relates to Kirkland Signature Probiotic Yogurt (Costco Item 1264134), which was sold at Costco between Sept. 3 and Sept. 19, the company said.

The affected products are identified by three applicable “best before” dates – Oct. 18, Oct. 20, Oct. 22. The yogurt was sold in packs of 24.

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“Danone Canada is recalling the Kirkland Signature Probiotic Yogurt as the product may contain a type of yeast that could cause illness to individuals with a compromised immune system. The food safety risk is low as this yeast is not known to grow in refrigerated temperatures,” the statement read.

The company said customers should not consume the affected product and bring them to a Costco warehouse for a full refund on the return.

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“We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and ask you to please pass this letter along to anyone to whom Kirkland Signature Probiotic Yogurt may have been given,” the company said.

This is the second such recall issued by the company just this month.

The previous recall was issued on Sept. 12 and pertained to the 24 pack of Kirkland Signature brand Greek Yogurt, after a mould was detected.

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