Technology award: cellphone sanitizer for hospitals
A group of Queen’s University graduates won a major innovation prize for a device designed to decontaminate personal electronic devices. The CleanSlate company, which was named one of 11 winners of the 43North entrepreneur and startup awards, won more than $650,000 (US$500,000). The CleanSlate technology uses ultraviolet light to clean the surfaces of cellphones, tablets and medical devices. It is meant to kill bacteria that have developed resistance to traditional treatment, including...
Paper pubished on Canadian surveillance of EV-D68
Today the BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) in collaboration with each of the local health authorities in BC and partners in Alberta, Quebec and nationally at the Public Health Agency of Canada published a paper in the peer-reviewed journal EuroSurveillance describing epidemic features of enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) in Canada during the fall of 2014. For the full publication (open access), see: http://www.eurosurveillance.org/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleId=21283. For a synopsis, see below. Why and how the investigation...
IPAC Survey for PHSA employees
PHSA’s Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC) team would like to hear what you think of the services they provide. Their survey is open to all employees of the agencies they serve: BC Women’s Hospital BC Children’s Hospital and Sunny Hill BC Cancer Agency (all centers) BC Centre for Disease Control BC Mental Health and Addictions BC Emergency Health Services The survey is completely anonymous, and takes about 5 minutes to complete. You could also win a Starbucks gift...
PICNet Co-Directors Lead Pilot Study
NEWS RELEASE from Genome BC Are self-disinfecting surfaces the “Midas” touch for reducing hospital infections? Pilot study examines environmental and genomic solution for healthcare associated infections Health care-associated infections (HAIs) are a major burden on patients and health-care systems worldwide. Despite strict hygiene practices and other preventative measures in hospitals there are an estimated 220,000 cases with 8,000 deaths per year in Canada. Costs associated with HAIs are estimated to be over $15...
Nobel Prizes in Medicine
Three scientists from Ireland, Japan and China won the Nobel Prize in medicine on Monday for discovering drugs against malaria and other parasitic diseases that affect hundreds of millions of people every year. The Nobel judges in Stockholm awarded the prestigious prize to Irish-born William Campbell, Satoshi Omura of Japan and Tu Youyou — the first-ever Chinese medicine laureate. Campbell and Omura were cited for discovering avermectin, derivatives of which have helped...
Avian Influenza A(H7N9) Virus Infection in 2 Travelers Returning from China to Canada, January 2015
In January 2015, the first two human infections due to avian influenza A(H7N9) were detected in North America, reported among two travelers returning from China to British Columbia, Canada. The patients presented with typical influenza-like illness. They were detected in the outpatient setting through a series of somewhat fortuitous events – notably the collection of a specimen by the health-care worker in response to travel history and the detection of a...
B.C. research uncovers links to asthma; Fecal samples taken from hundreds of infants reveal missing bugs
Vancouver-based researchers have identified four strains of bacteria that they believe babies need in their digestive tract to prevent asthma, opening up the possibility of a preventive treatment. The work published Wednesday in Science Translational Medicine fleshes out recent studies pointing toward the importance of a wide variety of bacteria in the human gut - known collectively as microbiota - for goodhealth. It's the first time specific bacteria have been linked...