CRISPR named ‘Breakthrough of the Year’ by Science magazine
A gene-editing technology called CRISPR-Cas9 was voted by the editors of the American journal Science as the most important research breakthrough of 2015. A day earlier, Nature named the Chinese researcher Junjiu Huang one of the 10 people who mattered in 2015 for being the first to use the CRISPR system to edit the DNA of (non-viable) human embryos. Last month, researchers from UC Irvine and UC San Diego showed how mosquitoes genetically modified...
Avian Influenza Bulletin – ‘tis the Season Reminder
From BCCDC: We are sending this pre-holiday bulletin as a reminder that the first three importations from China to North America of human infections with avian influenza (H5N1 and H7N9) were reported by Canada in early January 2014 (n=1) and 2015 (n=2), following the Christmas holiday period. This includes a young adult from Alberta who acquired avian influenza A(H5N1) infection while in Beijing, China between December 6 and 27, 2013. Upon return...
Quebec offers HPV vaccine to boys
The [Quebec] provincial government is changing a seven-year-old policy and will begin offering HPV vaccines without charge to young men. Starting in January 2016, men aged 26 and under who have sexual relations with other men will be eligible to get the vaccine against the human papilloma virus. Next school year, in September 2016, boys in grade 4 will also be offered the HPV vaccine. Parents of those aged 13 and under...
Possible TB exposure in U.S. hospital
Over 1,000 people, including 350 infants, may have been exposed to tuberculosis in the maternity wing of a hospital in California after an active case of the disease was diagnosed in a nurse, hospital officials said on Sunday. The Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose, Calif., said it was notified in mid-November that an employee who worked “in the area of the newborn nursery” had been given the diagnosis,...
Healthcare Year In Review by the Globe and Mail
11 IDEAS THAT SHOOK THE WORLD OF HEALTH IN 2015 It takes major news to tilt conventional wisdom off its axis - and this year had its share of blockbusters: Supreme Court of Canada rules on physician-assisted suicide Dairy and red meat take heat Genes are tweaked Overhaul sought for Home-care The brain’s blood-brain barrier is breeched The anti-vaccination movement loses steam Germs get their due Autism gets reimagined Fairy-tale romance gets a reality check We stand up to sitting Infants nibble...
OXA-48 strain of CPO in the news
Several stories have been circulating in the U.S. press around a strain of CPO that the media has dubbed "The Phantom Menace". The stories refer to this report published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on December 4, 2015. The main summary points of the report are: The plasmid containing OXA-48-like genes has high transfer efficiency, and the OXA-48 gene is more difficult to identify. CDC has modified...
BCCDC Reportable Disease Dashboard
The BC Centre for Disease Control's public health analytics team has created an interactive tool that provides summary statistics on a variety of reportable diseases and conditions in British Columbia. You can now search by disease, health region, and date range to see the geographic distribution, age and sex breakdowns, and the counts and rates for each health authority and health service delivery area for the selected disease. The reportable diseases dashboard...