An Ontario child's death from #measles this year offers a grim reminder: When vaccination rates drop and this virus rears its head, the youngest among us bear the brunt.

My latest explores the risks faced by unvaccinated kids:
cbc.ca/news/health/me…

.CDC has posted an update to its site where it is reporting #influenzaA detection in wastewater, which at this time of year is probably #H5N1 #birdflu . It plans to update weekly on Fridays.
What's going on in Northern California?
cdc.gov/flu/avianflu/h…

A child under five years old has died of measles in Ontario, according to the province's public health agency, the first such death in more than a decade. cbc.ca/news/canada/to… .

A reminder as #measles cases rises in Ontario, including one child's death, that it is possible to suppress outbreaks. Quebec did it this year through a mix of contact tracing, providing post-exposure prophylaxis, getting low school vaccination rates up:
cbc.ca/news/canada/mo….

When Robbie Sherren died on May 7, he became the first Canadian adult to donate his heart after cardiac or circulatory death.
The legacy is helping his parents cope and igniting a new approach to save lives in this country, doctors say. cbc.ca/news/health/he… .

A young child has died of measles in the province, a new surveillance report from Public Health Ontario confirms.

toronto.ctvnews.ca/child-under-5-…

Despite the misconception of measles as a harmless childhood illness, it claims over 130,000 lives worldwide annually, predominantly children.

Ontario just reported a measles death in a child under 5.

Vaccines clinics in Ontario: ontario.ca/page/immunizat…

Public Health

Dept. of Agriculture HHS.gov So the researchers added H5N1 to ground beef patties then cooked them. “There was no virus present in the burgers cooked to 145 degrees internal temperature, or roughly medium, or 160 degrees, which equates with a well done burger, which is the recommended cooking temperature”

- Wastewater surveillance at sites in Florida and Illinois show high levels of Influenza A, suggesting - together with the data on H5N1 in commercial milk samples - 'that there may be herds that are harboring H5, but have not yet tested positive', according to Nirav D. Shah

I've written many stories about the toxic drug crisis, & they were all tragic, but this one was the hardest. I knew Sidney & her family. What happened to her is so wrong. If you have a child in university or college, you should read this & push for change. vancouversun.com/feature/bc-stu…

New from me: Federal tests on 142 retail milk samples found no signs of the virus that causes a dangerous form of bird flu.

It's good news for now, but as one scientist told me, the early finding offers no guarantee that #H5N1 hasn't hit Canadian cows:
cbc.ca/news/health/bi…

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday released data on influenza A found in wastewater in a public dashboard that could assist in tracking the outbreak of H5N1 bird flu that has infected cattle herds. reut.rs/4bfgOLL reut.rs/4bfgOLL

New tool announcement! Thanks to a lot of work from Jordan Ort (an awesome student in the lab), with help from Richard Neher, Todd Davis, Tommy Lam, and Sam Shepard, the H5s are now on Nextclade! clades.nextstrain.org A thread below:

If #H5N1 sparked a pandemic, would the world be able to rush out vaccines? My latest explores the plans in place globally, and here in Canada — and why experts warn getting shots out in a crisis is never simple, even when vaccine candidates already exist:
cbc.ca/news/health/bi…