News from Canada

The National Institute of Public Health of Quebec has recently (document says June 2024 but I had not seen anything about it until a news article was published yesterday) published a study of health care and social workers on Long Covid prevalence. At first I thought it was based on the Statistics Canada survey because the numbers are very similar for the cumulative risk of multiple infections, but it was an independent survey of employees in health care and social work.

The report is only available in French. This is any and all symptoms so it's mostly mild ones. Low response rate, at 5.7% from a 22K sample.

Post-COVID-19 illness among Quebec healthcare workers: frequency, evolution and risk factors
https://www.inspq.qc.ca/publications/3510

Highlights:

This report presents the results of the epidemiological survey conducted during the summer of 2023 among health and social service workers (HSWs) in Quebec aimed at estimating the frequency of post-COVID-19 illness (PCA), as well as its risk factors and the health care desired and received. PCA is defined as the persistence of symptoms for at least 12 weeks following an acute episode of COVID-19.

More than three-quarters of HCWs reported having had at least one episode of COVID-19 between the start of the pandemic and summer 2023.
  • Among HCWs who reported having COVID-19, approximately 15% had symptoms persisting for 12 weeks or more after initial infection. At the time of the survey, an estimated 6% of all HCWs in Quebec were still experiencing symptoms of CPA.
  • The cumulative risk of APC increases with the number of infections from 13% with one infection, to 23% with two infections and reaching 37% for three infections.
  • A quarter of APC cases who had symptoms at the time of the survey had only mild symptoms, 42% had at least one moderate symptom without severe symptoms, and a third had at least one severe symptom.
  • The most common symptoms among PCa cases who had symptoms at the time of the survey were fatigue (72%), shortness of breath (53%), problems concentrating or remembering (50% and 48%), and brain fog (44%).
  • The risk of CPA was higher among certain groups of HCWs: women, those aged 40 to 59 years compared with younger or older individuals, HCWs with chronic respiratory disease, depressive disorder, or obesity, those with economic disadvantage, those from certain racial/ethnic minorities, those with severe COVID-19 (hospitalized cases or outpatient cases with at least three severe symptoms), and those who were infected early in the pandemic during the period of circulation of the ancestral SARS-CoV-2 strain.
  • Medical care was desired by 67% of APC cases, but obtained by 48% of them, while rehabilitation and psychological follow-up services were desired by a third of the cases, but obtained by only 12% of them.
  • Demand for medical care, rehabilitation and occupational therapy services, and psychological follow-up was two to three times higher among individuals with severe PCa symptoms compared with those with mild symptoms.
Little to no protective effect from vaccination:
The vaccination was not associated with protection against APC in multivariate analyses. Current evidence is contradictory regarding the protective effect of vaccination (42,43).
Click to expand...

No major differences between variants or drop over time aside from the original variant. A rough average of 10% is mostly holding from the beginning.

Affection-post-COVID-19-chez-le-personnel-de-la-santé-du-Québec-10-31-2024_10_14_AM.png
 
Risk of long COVID reaches 37% after three infections, according to INSPQ
https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/2116352/covid-longue-sras-cov2-pandemie-risque

According to theINSPQ, about 16% of health care workers surveyed reported symptoms for more than 12 weeks after a COVID-19 infection. For some, symptoms resolved after a few months, but 6% of all health care workers in Quebec still had persistent COVID-19 symptoms in the summer of 2023, or about 24,000 people.
...
According to Sara Carazo, these data paint a good picture of the prevalence of long COVID at the provincial level and are consistent with many other studies, including the Canadian COVID-19 Antibody Health Survey . (New window), which show that the prevalence rate of long COVID is around 15%.
...
The Ministry of Health reminds that vaccination could also prevent long COVID and that the vaccine is offered free of charge to anyone aged six months and over who wants to receive it.​

The Ministry of Health does not appear to have read the report, which shows otherwise.

It was during her second infection that Mélanie Champagne developed her long COVID. After being bedridden for two weeks, she noticed that her symptoms were not going away. Mélanie, who previously ran four times a week, now lives with a range of incapacitating symptoms: extreme fatigue, congestion, brain fog, difficulty concentrating, sensitivity to noise.
...
"It's like I'm an old cell phone that doesn't charge. If I do absolutely nothing all day, my battery charges to 20-25% maximum. If I'm unfortunate enough not to rest, it takes me a week to recover."
...
The INSPQ also notes that among people who still have long COVID, more than half have symptoms that have persisted for more than a year.

Among those whose disease resolved, the average duration of their symptoms was seven months.
...
A Canadian review found that nearly 20% of people with long COVID were off work for more than six months.

Persistent symptoms of [long COVID] are linked to significant work absenteeism that may require adjustments by insurers and theCNESST, the report says, adding that limited access to rapid self-tests complicates long-term compensation claims.
...
While the Quebec government boasts of having opened 15 post-COVID and Lyme disease clinics, the data from theINSPQshow that resources are insufficient.​

Early last year, an ME/CFS clinic was opened at the major regional research hospital. My referral was rejected, they only take people with LC-flavored ME/CFS. I guess that's why: too much demand.

​
 
The BC Minister of Health Bonnie Henry recently said "If you've had covid recently, you've had a boost to your immunity. So that's a good thing."

No, getting covid is NEVER a good thing. It won't help or improve your immune system.
 
Canada needs a national COVID-19 inquiry now
Fisman, David; Horton, Jillian; Oliver, Matthew; Ungrin, Mark; Vipond, Joseph; Wright, Julia M.; Zoutman, Dick

BACKGROUND
We are now in the fifth year of an ongoing pandemic, and Canada continues to experience significant surges of COVID-19 infections. In addition to the acute impacts of deaths and hospitalizations, there is growing awareness of an accumulation of organ damage and disability which is building a “health debt” that will affect Canadians for decades to come. Calls in 2023 for an inquiry into the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic went unheeded, despite relevant precedent. Canada urgently needs a comprehensive review of its successes and failures to chart a better response in the near-and long-term.

MAIN BODY
While Canada fared better than many comparators in the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is clearly still in a public health crisis. Infections are not only affecting Canadians’ daily lives but also eroding healthcare capacity. Post-COVID condition is having accumulating and profound individual, social, and economic consequences.
An inquiry is needed to understand the current evidence underlying policy choices, identify a better course of action on various fronts, and build resilience. More must be done to reduce transmission, including a serious public education campaign to better inform Canadians about COVID and effective mitigations, especially the benefits of respirator masks. We need a national standard for indoor air quality to make indoor public spaces safer, particularly schools. Data collection must be more robust, especially to understand and mitigate the disproportionate impacts on under-served communities and high-risk populations. General confidence in public health must be rebuilt, with a focus on communication and transparency. In particular, the wide variation in provincial policies has sown mistrust: evidence-based policy should be consistent. Finally, Canada’s early success in vaccination has collapsed, and this development needs a careful post-mortem.

CONCLUSIONS
A complete investigation of Canada’s response to the pandemic is not yet possible because that response is still ongoing and, while we have learned much, there remain areas of dispute and uncertainty. However, an inquiry is needed to conduct a rapid assessment of the current evidence and policies and provide recommendations on how to improve in 2025 and beyond as well as guidance for future pandemics.

Link | PDF (BMC Medicine) [Open Access]
 
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Canadian neurosurgeons seek six patients for Musk's Neuralink brain study

TORONTO -

Canadian neurosurgeons in partnership with Elon Musk's Neuralink have regulatory approval to recruit six patients with paralysis willing to have a thousand electrode contacts in their brains.

The trial, called Can-Prime has started recruiting patients for a study that will test the safety and efficacy of a device that allows people to move cursors with their minds, a surgeon leading the trial said.
LINK
 
Neuralink gets okay for its first international trial

Elon Musk's brain-computer interface (BCI) company Neuralink has been given the green light to test its device in tetraplegic patients in Canada – the first international trial of the technology.

The CAN-PRIME study will run alongside Neuralink's recently initiated PRIME study in the US and will test the safety and functionality of its N1 implant in people who have difficulty moving their arms and legs to see if it can act as a hands-free interface between the brain and electronic devices, allowing them to be controlled with thoughts alone.

LINK
 
From 2024:

The College of Family Physicians of Canada welcomes Dr. Carrie Bernard as its 2024-2025 President

"Following a recent diagnosis of post-acute Sars-COV2 infection (long COVID), Dr. Bernard is taking a break from her clinical duties"

LINK
 
Mij said:
Note the masked person is Dr. Bernard, the President of the largest organization of family physicians in Canada. The CFPC website notes that she has Long Covid & takes mitigation seriously. Expect more Covid-aware clinician scientists in leadership ranks the next 10 years.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1887322108608319913
Click to expand...

The President of the largest organization of family physicians in Canada has LC and still nothing whatsoever has changed to improve things, it still doesn't exist as far as they're concerned. Good grief what a total mess. We can't even begin to repair this broken system, it's just pieces and bits of dust held together by spit and spite.
 
Steffany Colvinns shares how her diagnosis with POTS has impacted her life and how UCalgary research has benefitted her.

Patient a proponent of research

Steffany Colvinns says study involvement a benefit
LINK
 
Doctors worry patients with long COVID may be overlooked as crisis fades

Prior to the pandemic, Dr. Satish Raj, a Calgary-based cardiologist, was already treating patients with similar problems after viral infections. The condition is known as POTS.

"What was different about COVID wasn't that this type of thing had never happened before, but that it had never happened before on the scale, societally, as it happened with COVID," said Raj, a University of Calgary professor and medical director of the Calgary autonomic investigation and management clinic.

He estimates five to 10 per cent of Albertans have ongoing symptoms after a COVID infection, and up to two per cent are so debilitated they can't go to work or school.

Dr. Satish Raj teaches cardiac sciences at the University of Calgary and cares for patients with long COVID. His waitlist is nearly two years long. (Submitted by University of Calgary)
 
I wish I could read the word "Albertans" without putting the stress on the first and last syllables, so that in my head it sounds like a planet in sci-fi computer game.
 
Trump threats open 'floodgate' of inquires from U.S physicians about moving north

"Some Canadian doctors are also turning down opportunities in the U.S"

"Renowned Ottawa heart surgeon Marc Ruel was planning a move to the United States last year, with the University of California, San Francisco "thrilled to announce" that he would be leading a heart division in their surgery department.

But Donald Trump's threats toward Canada were such that Ruel has now decided to remain in Canada.

"Canada is under duress right now," he told CBC. "I felt my role and duty at this point was to directly serve my country from within."
 
Merged

I felt like I was on fire': Saskatchewan woman recovering from serious case of measles

A Saskatchewan woman who contracted measles last month wants more people to get vaccinated against the disease to prevent others from getting sick.

Michelle Knorr, 55, was hospitalized late last week after fighting a high fever, body shakes, dehydration, vomiting and diarrhea for several days.

“I just kept on thinking it was the worst flu bug I had ever had in my life,” she told CTV News from her home in Kindersley.

“Once the rash hit, I knew it was a problem.”

A bright red rash extended from Knorr’s scalp all the way to the tips of her toes. It radiated heat, she said, and caused the pores in her face to stretch from the swelling.

“I felt like I was on fire,” she said.

The blotchy rash is a telltale sign of measles, which often appears a few days after the initial symptoms.
 
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Health outcomes of patients in the Complex Chronic Diseases Program​

Dolphin

Thread 'Health outcomes of patients in the Complex Chronic Diseases Program, 2025, Meagher, Nacul, et al.'

Now published, see post #4
------------------------------------

Free:
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.05.25.24307912v1

Complex Chronic Diseases Program: Program Description & Health Outcomes Assessment from a Clinical Data Registry
Emily Meagher, Tianna Magel, Travis Boulter, Carola Muñoz, Nicole Prestley, Wee-Shian Chan, Cassandra Bryden, Luis Nacul
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.05.25.24307912


Abstract
Introduction

The Complex Chronic Diseases Program (CCDP) was funded by the BC Ministry of Health to address gaps...
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