Health News

An infectious disease specialist in Newfoundland and Labrador says re-establishing a mask mandate in health-care facilities is a tool to get ahead of a surge in respiratory illness — which includes a notable increase in the amount of people presenting with symptoms of pneumonia.

The Canadian Medical Association wants to eliminate sick note requirements by companies for employees with short-term minor illnesses, saying they burden physicians with unnecessary administrative tasks.

Federal Health Minister Mark Holland says Ottawa will not be contesting Quebec's law to allow advance requests for assisted dying, also known as MAID, as it begins Canada-wide consultations on making changes to the Criminal Code.

Deaf passenger Georgina Villeneuve says she's tired of having to explain to airlines what the rules are around service animals on flights. The Edmonton woman was kicked off a Porter flight last month after the flight attendant didn't know the airline's own rules.

The most recent review of the Ontario government's progress on implementing the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act considered the current state of emergency procedures for people with disabilities an immediate safety threat. But almost a year and a half after receiving the report, the province hasn't updated its emergency protocols. 

Testing has ruled out beef patties as the source of the outbreak of E. coli poisoning tied to McDonald's Quarter Pounders, the company said Sunday. It will resume selling the Quarter Pounder in the coming week.

While the breast self-exam hasn’t been shown to help reduce breast cancer mortality and the exam’s ability to detect cancer early on has been challenged by physicians, some experts say self-exams are still useful. They provide women with important information about their bodies by making them aware of what feels and looks normal.

Bartonella quintana, an infection caused by body lice, has been found in seven organ transplant recipients in Alberta since 2022.

One in four American adults suspect they have ADHD, suggests a new survey. And in Canada, prescriptions for medication to treat ADHD in adults is also on the rise, even though people are struggling to get a diagnosis.

Of the 61 people for whom information was available, 22 were hospitalized and two developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, a serious condition that can cause kidney failure, U.S. health officials said Friday.

The Ontario government will effectively bar international students from attending medical schools beginning in the fall of 2026, while also covering tuition for more than 1,000 students who commit to becoming a family doctor in the province.

Roche's rheumatoid arthritis drug Actemra failed to help patients with early-stage COVID-19 pneumonia in an Italian study, the latest instance in which an anti-inflammatory drug has fallen through in a coronavirus trial.

Russia has revised steeply higher, to nearly 500, the number of medical workers who have died after contracting COVID-19, illustrating the severe toll the pandemic has taken on its frontline doctors and nurses.

The World Health Organization hopes hundreds of millions of doses of coronavirus vaccine can be produced this year and 2 billion doses by the end of 2021, chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said on Thursday.

Here's what you need to know about the coronavirus right now:

A cheap steroid that can help save the lives of patients with severe COVID-19 should be reserved for serious cases in which it has been shown to provide benefits, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday.

The number of contacts of positive COVID-19 cases reached by England's test and trace system in its first two weeks of operation was 87,639, Britain's health ministry said on Thursday.

China's capital has mandated coronavirus tests for hundreds of thousands of people as it widens measures against a new outbreak of the disease that has sent anxious residents flooding to clinics for voluntary tests, putting a strain on the system.

The European Commission is in advanced talks with pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson to reserve or buy up-front doses of its COVID-19 vaccine under development, two officials familiar with the talks told Reuters.

Beijing has brought its latest coronavirus outbreak under control, a Chinese medical expert said on Thursday, although the capital can still expect sporadic new cases.