For the first time in report's history, Canada's air quality worse than U.S.
Thanks to wildfires, air quality in Canada is now worse than in the U.S., according to the 6th Annual World Air Quality Report.
Roughly one in 200 babies born in Canada today will have a virus that can lead to hearing loss, intellectual disability or vision loss.
Congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) is “in the family of the herpes group of viruses,” Dr. Ari Bitnun, pediatric infectious disease specialist at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children, told CTV National News.
“There’s a whole bunch of them, so it’s related to the virus that causes mono and cold sores. It is very common.”
However, it’s only Saskatchewan and Ontario that are screening newborns for CMV.
The gap in screening has led Rob Tétrault, co-founder of CMV Canada and the father of a boy born with CMV, to push for testing in all provinces.
“We have sick kids and we are choosing not to identify them. We are choosing not to treat them,” he says.
The father from Winnipeg is hoping to increase awareness by running across the province on a 12-day marathon from the Saskatchewan border to the Ontario border, bridging the “screening gap,” he says.
He’s asking people to sign up, donate and run with him to bring awareness. Run with Rob for CMV Canada is set to kick-off May 12.
“It’s the number one cause of infant disability, the number one cause of non-genetic hearing loss. It’s way more common than people are aware of and nobody has ever heard about it.”
In Manitoba, where targeted screening is done on some infants, the provincial government says it is looking at the impact of universal screening for all newborns in other provinces.
A government spokesperson said in a statement, “Manitoba Public Health is committed to a targeted congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV) screening process and is following the impact of universal cCMV screening programs in other jurisdictions.”
PARENTS ‘SURPRISED’ AFTER HEARING ABOUT CMV: EXPERT
CMV is passed via bodily fluids like saliva, urine, blood, tears, semen, and breast milk.
“If you catch CMV infection during pregnancy and it’s transmitted to the fetus, it can have significant consequences for the fetus,” Bitnun says.
Bitnun says mothers with toddlers in daycares may be more susceptible to CMV. His advice is to wash your hands regularly, especially after diaper changes, and to not share food or utensils with a toddler.
Antivirals can be used to treat infection, and while vaccine trials are being done, the work is ongoing.
“Most mothers that come to me with a baby that has congenital CMV are surprised that they’ve never heard of CMV,” Bitnun says. “And I think we’ve done a terrible job of advocacy in that sense, as there are simple interventions that will reduce a woman’s risk of acquiring CMV in pregnancy.”
As part of screenings, newborns are given a heel-prick test, allowing doctors to collect a small amount of blood. It is checked for genetic, metabolic, blood or hormone-related conditions which may not be apparent at birth, but could cause serious health problems.
Ontario included CMV in its newborn screening program in 2019 and in 2022, Saskatchewan became the second province to do so.
Francesca Jones was the first baby diagnosed under a CMV pilot screening program in in 2018. She was born deaf and received cochlear implants at six months old. She is now four-and-a-half years old, healthy and happy.
Her early diagnosis allowed doctors to help her quickly get treatment for hearing loss, which her father, William Jones, says he is thankful for.
“You’re catching kids early who may have severe disabilities,” Jones says. “If doctors can intervene with certain therapies, it can have a huge effect on that person’s life for the long term. I think it’s just a no-brainer.”
Thanks to wildfires, air quality in Canada is now worse than in the U.S., according to the 6th Annual World Air Quality Report.
Prince William and his wife Catherine have been filmed at a farm shop near their Windsor home, The Sun newspaper reported -- the first footage of Kate since she had abdominal surgery for an unspecified condition two months ago.
A Toronto man is spreading the word of a cryptocurrency scam that lures victims using AI-generated news sites after he lost $17,000 in investments.
Statistics Canada says the annual inflation rate edged down to 2.8 per cent in February.
The company, which announced in January it was selling 20,000 of the electric vehicles in its fleet, or about a third of the EVs it owned, is now replacing the CEO who helped build up that fleet, giving it the company’s fifth boss in just four years.
Statistics Canada has conducted a series of surveys to measure the impacts of legalized cannabis since the Cannabis Act took effect in 2018. The latest one, the 2023 National Cannabis Survey, sheds light on users' preferences and habits last year.
The demand for total solar eclipse glasses used to safely view the rare celestial event has been ramping up as sellers, along with astronomy and eye-care experts in Canada, warn that viewing the eclipse with the naked eye is dangerous.
Former U.S. president Donald Trump on Monday charged that Jews who vote for Democrats 'hate Israel' and hate 'their religion,' igniting a firestorm of criticism from the White House and Jewish leaders.
A family doctor in Toronto has been suspended for three months after a disciplinary tribunal found that he failed to follow proper protocols while examining a patient's breasts and made inappropriate comments about her body.