Trudeau acknowledges charges in Nijjar killing, calls for commitment to democracy
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has acknowledged the charges laid Friday in relation to the murder of B.C. Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
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.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has acknowledged the charges laid Friday in relation to the murder of B.C. Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
A man was denied a $5,000 payout from his brother after a B.C. tribunal dismissed his claim disputing how many kittens were born in a litter.
Three bodies recovered in an area of Baja California are likely to be those of the two Australians and an American who went missing last weekend during a camping and surfing trip, the state prosecutor’s office said Saturday.
Princess Anne paid tribute to veterans buried at a cemetery in British Columbia today, laying a wreath to honour the more than 2,500 military personnel and family members buried there.
Mystik Dan won the 150th Kentucky Derby in a photo finish, edging out Forever Young and Sierra Leone for the upset victory.
A man accused of arson in a January Old Strathcona apartment fire is expected to be charged with manslaughter after a body was discovered in the burned building late last month.
Quebec provincial police handed out hundreds of fines to Hells Angels members and other supporting motorcycle clubs who met for their 'first run' in a small town near Sherbrooke, Que.
A lockout notice issued by WestJet to a union representing aircraft maintenance engineers could result in a work stoppage next week.
Almost a week after all London Drugs stores across Western Canada abruptly closed amid a cyberattack, they began a "gradual reopening" on Saturday.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.