Ontario newborns will soon be able to receive a new, drinkable vaccine to protect them from diarrhea, vomiting and dehydration.
Nearly 140,000 infants will benefit from the oral rotavirus
vaccine, the Liberal government says. They are set to announce a number
of changes to its publicly funded immunization program this morning.
Ontario is the first jurisdiction in Canada to cover the oral rotavirus vaccine, according to Health Minister Deb Matthews.
Beginning this August, the government will offer two new vaccines —
one for rotavirus and the other a combined chicken pox and
measles-mumps-rubella vaccine known as MMRV.
The government says the vaccine change will save families up to $350 per person.
Also this August, Ontario will cover a second childhood dose of the
varicella (chicken pox) vaccine to enhance protection and they’ll pay
for a lifetime dose of the pertussis, or whooping cough vaccine.
“Immunization is one of the most effective ways to protect yourself
and your family,” said Dr. Arlene King, Ontario’s chief medical officer
of health in a release.
...
It took months, but the effects were obvious and enormous. All of the
mice displayed far more normal grooming habits; four of the mice were
completely cured, while the other six healed a lot of their wounds and
regrew substantial portions of their hair. The team also tried all the
other possible combinations - normal mice given mutant marrow started
showing obsessive-compulsive data, normal mice given normal marrow
showed no change, and mutant mice given mutant marrow exhibited extreme
self-mutilation and sometimes died from their self-inflicted wounds.
Previous studies have managed to link the immune system with mental
illness, but this is the first time a clear cause-and-effect link has
been demonstrated in which a problem in the immune system directly
affects the proper functioning of the mind. Still, while Capecchi and
his colleagues think similar treatments work for humans, they don't
expect to see bone marrow transplants become a common way to treat
psychiatric disorders. They are among the most painful types of medical
procedures and are typically only used to help treat life-threatening
illnesses.
The centre said Tuesday that there have been 10 confirmed and four
suspected cases of measles in the past two weeks.
Eight of those
cases stem from a single household, while two others are believed to
have come from out-of-country visitors in February or early March.
Dr.
Monika Naus, the centre's immunization director, said the risk remains
low for the general public because most B.C. children receive the
measles vaccine between their first and second birthdays.
None of
the people who caught the disease had had the two doses of vaccine
required for full protection and many weren't immunized because of
philosophical objections.
“Most years, we see no cases of measles
in B.C. because our vaccination rates are high,” Naus said in a written
statement.
“Whether it's measles, mumps, rubella, or a host of other
vaccine-preventable diseases for which we have vaccines, the best thing
anyone can do is to make sure that their vaccinations are up to date,”
she said.
“Two doses of measles vaccine are 99 per cent effective
against the disease. Those are pretty good odds.”
In the summer of
2008, about 200 cases of mumps were recorded in B.C.’s Fraser Valley.
Health officials said at the time the illness began with a religious
group that shunned immunization.
This week researchers announce that they've created a perfect reproduction of a virus shell (pictured). That's the ultra-tough outer layer found on most viruses that allows them to drill into cells and reproduce.
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