4 more cases of new SARS-like virus confirmed

A cluster of infections caused by the new coronavirus is being investigated to see if it was triggered by person-to-person spread, the World Health Organization has said.

The WHO announced four new cases of the virus on Friday, three of which occurred in Saudi Arabia. The fourth was a man from Qatar who travelled to Germany for care.

The global agency said it is also in the process of reviewing its case definition to help health-care practitioners spot possible additional infections.

It advised countries to be on the lookout for possible cases, even in people who haven't travelled to Saudi Arabia and Qatar, the only two countries to date to have had citizens who have tested positive for the virus.

'Now with these cases, you can't say it's just a very rare event.'—Dr. Michael Osterholm, University of Minnesota

"Until more information is available, it is prudent to consider that the virus is likely more widely distributed than just the two countries which have identified cases," the WHO's statement says.

"Member states should consider testing of patients with unexplained pneumonias for the new coronavirus even in the absence of travel or other associations with the two affected countries."

The statement — and word on Twitter that the European Centre for Disease Control is planning to update its risk assessment of the coronavirus — suggests public health officials are worrying there are more instalments ahead in the story of this virus, a cousin of the coronavirus that causes SARS.

"Before we were wondering if these were really one-off transmissions which were just oddities in that they happened to occur around the same time," said Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Diseases Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.

"Now with these cases, you can't say it's just a very rare event."

6 confirmed cases, 2 deaths

The WHO said as of Friday there have been six confirmed cases of the infection, four from Saudi Arabia and two from Qatar. (Saudi officials had previously reported two of the cases to which the WHO statement refers.)

Two of the confirmed cases have died; both the fatal cases were Saudi citizens.

The Robert Koch Institute in Berlin informed the WHO of the latest Qatari case. A statement from the institute said the man recovered and was released this week.

All the confirmed cases have been men, WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib said in an email.

The new virus was first spotted in June, when a man from Saudi Arabia died after a serious respiratory infection. When the cause of his infection couldn't be identified, an infectious diseases specialist from the Jeddah hospital sent a specimen to Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, which confirmed infection with a new coronavirus.

But word of the discovery of the new virus did not emerge until late September, around the time authorities in Britain were trying to diagnose a gravely ill man from Qatar who had travelled to London for treatment by air ambulance. The man, who is still in hospital in London, tested positive for the virus.

Possible human-to-human spread

Up till now there has been no suggestion of person-to-person spread of the virus, prompting authorities to say the virus didn't pose a global threat. But this cluster in Saudi Arabia may change thinking on that.

Two men in a single household fell ill and tested positive for the virus. One of the two died.

Two other members of the same household were sick at the same time with similar symptoms; one of those men died as well. The survivor tested negative for the virus, but results are still pending on the testing of samples taken from the man who died, the WHO said Friday.

Chaib said if there was human-to-human spread in this case it looks like it petered out. She said work is underway to try to tease out whether the people were all infected from a single non-human source, or if one member of the household picked up the infection and passed it along.

"The timing of the cases in the Saudi cluster does raise that concern but when a cluster occurs in a setting such as a household where everyone has similar environmental exposures it can be very difficult to separate out exposure to the same environmental source versus spread from one person to another," she said.

"Investigations are on-going to try and answer this question, however if H2H (human-to-human spread) has occurred, it does not appear to be sustained."

Little information revealed

Osterholm said too little information is known at present to be reassured that the negative test was a true negative. The reliability of the test could vary, depending on when the person was tested, what kind of test was used and the kind and calibre of the specimen being tested, he said.

"If the person had an illness similar to the other illnesses, then…I believe that you'd have to consider that this test may have been a false negative," said Osterholm, adding testing the survivor's blood for antibodies would shed some light on the situation.

It's not clear what kind of testing has been done. In fact, very little information about the cases has been revealed.

The new statement does not mention the ages of the cases or when they became sick. It also does not say what symptoms the men suffered from, how they were treated or how sick the survivors were.

It does not reveal where the cases lived — in a city or in a rural setting, where they might be in closer proximity to animals that could be the source of the virus.

Last month teams of researchers from Columbia University in New York, the WHO and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control travelled to Saudi Arabia to investigate possible sources of the new virus. To date they have not publicly revealed whether they found any clues where the virus comes from or how people become infected with it.

The genetic blueprints of viruses recovered from the first two cases suggest this coronavirus comes from bats. But it is not known at this point whether the viruses jumped directly from bats to people — say through exposure to bat guano or urine — or from bats to other animals and then to humans.

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Virus in SARS family sickened man in Qatar

Germany's national health institute says a patient from Qatar has been confirmed to have had a new type of coronavirus but it has shown no signs of being easily transmitted like the related virus that caused the 2003 global SARS outbreak.

Reinhard Burger, president of the Robert Koch Institute, the German institute for disease control, speaks to reporters last year in Berlin. Authorities at the institute say a patient from Qatar confirmed to have had a new type of coronavirus, was treated and released. (Tobias Schwarz/Reuters)

The Robert Koch Institute said Friday the patient fell ill in Qatar in October with severe respiratory problems. He was treated in a specialty clinic in Germany for a month and released this week.

Britain's Health Protection Agency confirmed based on samples that he was sickened by a new coronavirus detected so far only in four other people, from Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

The Koch institute says there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission.

Some 8,500 people were affected by SARS in 2003 and about 900 died, including 44 in Toronto.

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Hamilton man dies of West Nile virus

A Hamilton man has died of West Nile Virus, the first local death in what has been a record year for the disease in the city.

Antonio Occhiuto, 82, died Thursday at Hamilton General hospital after what his family said was "a courageous battle with West Nile virus."

Hamilton Public Health Services confirmed that there has been a West Nile death.

"We can't supply medical information related to an identified individual under PHIPA. We can say that Hamilton Public Health Services has had one death attributed to West Nile Virus this year," communications officer Tara Hall said in an email to CBC News Friday.

She added that Hamilton Public Health Services is not aware of any other cases of West Nile in hospitalized patients.

Occhiuto's obituary describes him as a husband of more than 50 years, father to four and grandfather—or "Nanuzze" as his family affectionately calls him — to six. He will be laid to rest on Monday.

This is the sole West Nile-related death in Hamilton after a record number of infections this season. Confirmed West Nile cases climbed to 249 in the province this year, including 20 people infected in Hamilton. Of them, seven were hospitalized.

Though Toronto topped the list with the highest number of reported cases at more than 90 by autumn, Hamilton had the fourth highest number of reported cases in the province.

Four other deaths were also reported in Ontario as a result of the virus, which grows more quickly in mosquitos when the weather is warmer.

In October, when the temperatures dropped, Hamilton Public Health Services thought the public was mostly out of the woods in terms of new infections. But, since symptoms usually take several weeks to emerge, anyone infected in September may not have known until after the fall weather arrived.

Fiona Hunter, a biological science professor at Brock University and West Nile specialist, told the CBC that the high number of infections could have been due, in part, to a lack of concern from the general public. She suspects many people weren't taking precautions seriously, in part due to the low number of reported cases over the past few years.

'People get tired of seeing messages about protecting themselves, but this was the year there ought to have been a big campaign.'—Fiona Hunter, West Nile specialist

"People get tired of seeing messages about protecting themselves," she said. "But this was the year there ought to have been a big campaign."

The numbers for West Nile in Hamilton previously peaked at 15 cases in 2002, which was also a record year in Ontario with more than 394 cases and 19 deaths.

Symptoms are usually mild and include fever, headache, body aches, sometimes a skin rash and swollen lymph glands. Severe infection is marked by headache, high fever, neck stiffness, stupor and disorientation. It can sometimes lead to coma, tremors, convulsions, paralysis and occasionally death.

Anyone with symptoms should seek medical attention as soon as possible.

There is no documented evidence that a pregnant woman or her fetus are at increased risk due to infection with West Nile virus.

If illness occurs, it usually happens within five to 15 days of being bitten by an infected mosquito.

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HIV-positive man guilty for not telling partner about his health

A Toronto man pleaded guilty today to two counts of aggravated sexual assault after not telling his partner he's HIV positive.

The conviction is Ian Thomas Williams's second for knowingly having sex while infected with the virus that causes AIDS.

The first woman he infected was his wife, who died of AIDS-related complications in 2005. He served a year behind bars for aggravated assault.

The latest victim was a 51-year-old woman who had relations with him in August 2011.

The Supreme Court ruled in October that a person with HIV does not have to disclose his or her status to sex partners if he or she has a low viral load and the partners use a condom.

The ruling focused on the legal definition of "significant risk of serious bodily harm," in cases where consensual sex could be considered sexual assault if one party was HIV positive and didn't share that fact.

The court said this "'significant risk of serious bodily harm' should be read as requiring disclosure of HIV status if there is a realistic possibility of transmission of HIV."

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Salmonella warning issued for Krown cherry tomatoes

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is warning the public not to consume the cherry tomatoes from Calgary-based Krown Produce Inc. (inspection.gc.ca)

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has recalled cherry tomatoes that may be contaminated with salmonella.

The food agency is warning the public not to eat Krown-brand cherry tomatoes that come in 551-ml containers with universal product code 0 33383 65520 8.

They were sold between Nov. 13 and Nov. 21.

The public is also being warned about cherry tomatoes in Safeway store-made party trays that were sold between Nov. 14 and Nov. 21.

The tomatoes, which were packaged in Calgary, have been distributed in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Northwest Territories and Yukon and may have been distributed nationally.

The CFIA says there have been no reported illnesses associated with the tomatoes.

Food contaminated with salmonella may not look or smell spoiled, but eating it may cause high fever, severe headache, vomiting, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea.

In young children, seniors and people with weakened immune systems, the food-borne bacteria may cause serious and sometimes deadly infections.

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Sex fails to expedite labour

Having sex during the later stages of pregnancy doesn't speed up the start of labour, a Malaysian study finds.

There's a folk belief that sexual intercourse helps induce labour, and scientists have reported several biological explanations:

• Semen contains prostaglandin, a hormone-like substance.
• Breast stimulation hastens the onset of labour.
• Coitus and orgasm stimulate uterine contractions.

But when obstetricians randomly assigned about 1,200 women who were between 35 to 38 weeks in to pregnancy to test the idea, it didn't hold up to scientific scrutiny.

The experiment focused on women who were at least 35 weeks in pregnancy. (Jorge Silva/Reuters)

"Despite the increase in reported coitus, there was no observed impact on the onset of labour or the labour induction rate in our current trial," study author Tan Peng Chiong, an obstetrics and gynecology professor at the University of Malaya, and co-authors concluded in this month's issue of BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

In the experiment, a doctor advised about half of the women to have vaginal intercourse frequently as a natural way of safely expedite labour and that the more frequent the better.

Those in the control group were told they were participating in a diary-based study of coitus and that sexual intercourse is safe but its effect on labour was uncertain.

The study looked at women who were recently abstinent to look for the greatest impact, the researchers said.

About 85 per cent of those in the group who were advised coitus reported doing so compared with nearly 80 per cent in the control group, a difference that showed coital activity ay term can be influenced by medical advice, the study's authors said.

They found no differences in length of labour, need for oxytocin, mode of delivery, postpartum hemorrhage or measures of the newborn's health at delivery, which suggest sex is safe at term.

While the study included more than 1,000 participants who were randomly assigned, it's possible that those in the control group found out about the purpose of the experiment by talking.

The researchers said only 12 per cent of the women returned the diaries. The rest of the reports of coital activity were taken over the phone, a delay that may have reduced the accuracy of their recall, the investigators said.

Last year, another study reported that half of postpartum women said they'd tried sexual non-prescribed methods of inducing labour, such as sexual intercourse and nipple stimulation — a reflection of the demand to shorten pregnancy, the researchers said.

The study was funded by the University of Malaya.

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Edmonton meat-processing plant has licence suspended

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has suspended the licence of a meat-packing plant in Alberta, citing concerns over food safety.

The CFIA said Thursday that Capital Packers, which is in northeast Edmonton and employs about 100 people, hasn't fixed problems from previous inspections, and all products at the plant are under detention.

Two products have already been recalled because of concerns of possible listeriosis:

• Ham sausages sold in 300-gram packages under the brand name Capital.
• Ham sausages sold in 375-gram packages under the Compliments brand.

Both products, which may have been sold across the country, carry the code 2012-DE-26.

Listeriosis is a food-borne illness that can cause high fever, severe headache, neck stiffness and nausea.

The CFIA said its public warning may be updated if additional food products are identified as being a potential health risk. The agency said no illnesses have been reported.

"Capital Packers Inc. will not be able to resume operations until they have fully implemented the necessary corrective actions and the CFIA is fully confident in the plant's capacity to effectively manage food safety risks," the agency said in a news release.

On its website, Capital Packers describes itself as an 82-year-old, third-generation family-owned business.

This suspension comes after the CFIA suspended XL Foods' licence to operate its plant in Brooks, Alta., on Sept. 27 because of E. coli concerns. At least 18 people were made sick by tainted beef in four provinces, and the plant was closed for more than a month.

Earlier this week, the House of Commons passed legislation meant to modernize Canada's food inspection system.

While the legislation was not a direct response to September's XL Foods shutdown, federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz said Bill S-11 would provide a "more consistent" approach to food inspection.

With files from The Canadian Press

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Virus in SARS family sickened man in Qatar

Germany's national health institute says a patient from Qatar has been confirmed to have had a new type of coronavirus but it has shown no signs of being easily transmitted like the related virus that caused the 2003 global SARS outbreak.

Reinhard Burger, president of the Robert Koch Institute, the German institute for disease control, speaks to reporters last year in Berlin. Authorities at the institute say a patient from Qatar confirmed to have had a new type of coronavirus, was treated and released. (Tobias Schwarz/Reuters)

The Robert Koch Institute said Friday the patient fell ill in Qatar in October with severe respiratory problems. He was treated in a specialty clinic in Germany for a month and released this week.

Britain's Health Protection Agency confirmed based on samples that he was sickened by a new coronavirus detected so far only in four other people, from Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

The Koch institute says there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission.

Some 8,500 people were affected by SARS in 2003 and about 900 died, including 44 in Toronto.

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Ski helmets lack mandatory Canadian safety rules

Skiers and snowboarders in Canada are increasingly turning to helmets for protection as they hit the slopes. But the helmets they buy aren't governed by any mandatory Canadian safety standards, which concerns at least one safety advocate.

According to the Canadian Ski Council, the number of skiers and snowboarders regularly wearing helmets when they head to the hill is on the rise. A February 2012 online survey conducted for the organization suggested that more than 80 per cent of skiers and snowboarders regularly wore helmets.

At Snow Valley in Edmonton, Rhonda Ross's two young daughters are sporting brightly coloured helmets. Ross says she bought the helmets just days ago, but didn't check to see if they met a safety standard.

"We don't really know what the standards are, but we know that it's brand new," she says.

'The government is letting our children down.'—Richard Kinar, Brain Injury Association of Canada

Cathy Gladwin of the Alberta Centre for Injury Control and Research said many consumers are confused about safety standards when shopping for ski or snowboard helmets, because they assume the helmets meet the same CSA standards as hockey helmets. Some then purchase helmets that may be "more or less a fashion accessory," she said.

Ross's helmet, like many others sold on Canadian shelves, meets standards set by the American Society for Testing and Materials, which describes itself as a leader in the "development and delivery of international voluntary consensus standards."

In 2008, the non-profit Canadian Standards Association came out with a blueprint for what's believed to be an even safer helmet — one that can withstand multiple impacts. The standard specified areas of the head protected from impact. They also set stability, shock absorption and labelling requirements, among others.

The Canadian standard, which was developed by a technical committee consisting of safety experts and advocates, engineers and others, was not made mandatory for manufacturers. That standard is now under review.

Documents obtained from Health Canada through access to information show that since the 2008 standards were unveiled, no companies have come to the CSA applying to have their product certified.

"The standard is voluntary," Gladwin said. "So it is a business discussion for the manufacturers to want to comply"

An email from Health Canada senior engineer Denis Roy to Patricia Pelletier, manager of the risk assessment division of the consumer product safety directorate at Health Canada, cites two reasons for the lack of applicants.

According to Roy's email, the first reason is that meeting the "standard as currently written is difficult."

The second reason, Roy says, is that companies "appear unwilling to invest in the development of helmets that would meet a 'made for Canada' standard unless they are required by law."

U.S. norm good enough, companies say

CBC contacted eight of the top helmet manufacturers, including Canadian firm Louis Garneau. Garneau and the Canadian distributor for Bolle helmets declined interview requests. Some did not reply to the request.

Some manufacturers who did reply said that U.S. and European standards are good enough, and that to apply the Canadian standard would make helmets too big, heavy and unattractive.

"It may provide a better level of safety that exceeds what's out there right now, but at the same time I think you're going to push consumers away from going out there and purchasing those helmets, just from a cost factor, a weight factor," said Scott Lumsden of Salomon Canada.

Richard Kinar, a spokesman for the Brain Injury Association of Canada, was part of the committee that came up with the CSA standard that is now under review. He said the fear is that the standard is being watered down.

"The government is letting our children down, and parents that are wanting to help protect their kids' health."

The federal government is participating in reviewing the standard and results are expected to be made public later next year.

In the meantime, Health Canada says it encourages all skiers and boarders to wear a helmet.

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Father calls for education on prescription drug abuse

The federal government's decision to allow the sale of generic OxyContin has a Nova Scotian father calling for more efforts to stop prescription drug trafficking.

John Munro's stepdaughter Brianne died two years ago after drinking alcohol and taking the prescription painkiller Dilaudid at a party. It was the first time she'd ever misused such a drug, Munro believes.

He said such deaths appear to be all-too frequent and "many of them are young people, 16 to 21, and many have just used it for the first time and had no idea of the risks involved."

Brianne Ashley was about to turn 21 when she died.

Brianne was just 20. Munro called for police, politicians and parents to do more to prevent such deaths. As such drugs are originally issued by doctors, he wants better provincial regulations around prescriptions for powerful painkillers.

"I think we need tighter regulations on prescription drugs. They're pain pills, but they're getting into the market and being used illegally," he said.

Dave Wilson, Nova Scotia's health minister, said the province is making improvements.

"That's why in April we extended the prescription monitoring program to 24/7, so we recognize the importance of the program," he said Tuesday.

Munro said there must be more education for teachers, parents, grandparents and young people.

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