'He's in our hearts': Family and friends still seek answers one year after Nathan Wise’s disappearance
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
While it’s likely that most COVID-fatigued people would be happy to push the idea of threatening infections completely out of their mind, doctors are warning about the spread of a deadly fungus that resists treatment and tends to thrive in hospital settings.
Virtually unknown before 2009, Candida auris has been increasingly identified in hospitals and long-term care settings, particularly in patients with weakened immune systems, and has shown itself to be disturbingly resistant to treatment, says Tom Chiller, a medical epidemiologist at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
“It's something that we're seeing spread relatively easily in our healthcare settings and in our nursing homes,” Chiller told CTV’s Your Morning on Friday. “It's able to live and grow on surfaces for prolonged periods of time and also colonize our skin, and what we're finding is this particular species is very hard to kill.”
According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, there were 24 cases of C. auris between 2012 and September 2019 in Canada, but data in general about the fungus is sparse, particularly recently as hospitalizations have increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, a U.S. government study released in January said 35 patients at a Florida hospital in 2020 became infected.
The CDC says about 30-60 per cent of patients with C. auris have died, but they caution the figure is based on limited data.
“Generally, fungal infections get into our bloodstream and when they get into our bloodstream they can then invade vital organs, and unfortunately have quite high mortalities in people that are sick,” said Chiller.
Chiller said fungal infections are much less of a worry in someone who is healthy, but he also noted it can be difficult to rid healthcare settings of the fungus on surfaces and equipment where it can colonize. It can also be very difficult to identify in clinical settings.
“We've always been challenged by getting rid of these organisms and when they eventually infect humans they’re sort of opportunists,” he said. “This particular fungus is no different. It has found a way to survive, and so yes you really have to bump up your level of disinfection, you really got to be aggressive to get rid of this fungus or it will survive.”
“We need to be looking for it as it's spreading and so there are screening tests we can do, we know the types of patients that are at risk. So the earlier we identify it the earlier we get on it the earlier we can control it and get rid of it,” he said.
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
Dozens of Ontarians are expressing frustration in the province’s health-care system after their family doctors either dropped them as patients or threatened to after they sought urgent care elsewhere.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
Amazon's paid subscription service provides free delivery for online shopping across Canada except for remote locations, the company said in an email. While customers in Iqaluit qualify for the offer, all other communities in Nunavut are excluded.
The fire burning near Fort McMurray grew from 25 hectares to 5,500 hectares over the weekend.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin began a Cabinet shakeup on Sunday, proposing the replacement of Sergei Shoigu as defence minister as he begins his fifth term in office.
Police are searching for a male suspect after a man was “slashed in neck” on Sunday morning in downtown Toronto and died.
There were some scary moments for several people on a northern Ontario highway caught on video Thursday after a chain reaction following a truck fire.
Health Canada announced various product recalls this week, including electric adapters, armchairs, cannabis edibles and vehicle components.
English, history, entertainment, math and geography: high school trivia teams could be quizzed on any of it when they compete at the Reach for the Top Nationals in Ottawa in June.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'
The Regina Police Service says it is the first in Saskatchewan and possibly Canada to implement new technology in its detention facility that will offer real-time monitoring of detainees’ vital health metrics.
Just as she had feared, a restaurant owner from eastern Quebec who visited Montreal had her SUV stolen, but says it was all thanks to the kindness of strangers on the internet — not the police — that she got it back.