March 28, 2024

Metro Vancouver may halt spraying for West Nile virus

A motion's going before the Metro Vancouver Board to discontinue mosquito control for West Nile virus. The main reason for wanting to discontinue the program is because there was no west nile virus detected in Metro Vancouver last year or this year. West Nile's only been found in the region one time - in a horse in 2009 in Aldergrove. The BC Centre … [Read more...]

BC doctors on the lookout for SARS-like virus from the Middle East

BC hospitals are on heightened alert after a new SARS-like virus has killed two people in the Middle East. Dr. Perry Kendall, the province's Chief Medical Health Officer, says doctors received a memo from the world health organization. "If they have concerns because there may be a linkage to someone who's travelled to Saudi Arabia or Qatar, they're … [Read more...]

New virus, related to SARS, causes concern

Health care workers around the province are being told to be on the alert for patients who may be returning from travel to Saudi Arabia if they're showing any signs of severe respiratory illness or renal failure.  This after a new respiratory virus related to SARS is believed to have killed at least one person in Saudi Arabia and left another … [Read more...]

Norwalk virus at Surrey Memorial

Staff at Surrey Memorial Hospital have been dealing with a recent outbreak of Norwalk virus. Fraser Health spokeswoman Kathleen Butler says it was reported a couple of days ago in three units, and it's now contained to only one.  Butler could not say which unit, though or how many people have been affected, or what brought the virus into the … [Read more...]

Salmon virus spawns fears

Another suspected case of a highly infectious salmon virus has surfaced in British Columbia, but it will take weeks to verify the findings, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency says. The agency has confirmed  that a laboratory at the University of Prince Edward Island suspects infectious salmon anemia in a coho salmon from B.C. A Department of … [Read more...]

Deadly virus found in Pacific salmon smolt

VANCOUVER - Experts say a highly-infectious virus has been found in wild salmon on B.C.'s central coast.The research of Simon Fraser University professor Rick Routledge led to the discovery of infectious salmon anaemia in two of 48 sockeye smolts collected.Routledge, who's doing a long-term study on the collapse of Rivers Inlet sockeye, says the … [Read more...]

Virus may be behind salmon demise

An aquatic virus may be the culprit for the recent decline of B.C.’s salmon stocks, according to researcher Dr. Kristi Miller of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Miller revealed the findings of her recent research at the Cohen Commission in Vancouver yesterday. She and DFO virologist Dr. Kyle Garver have found a correlation between the … [Read more...]