Number of new measles cases trending down in Manitoba

Manitoba’s number of new confirmed measles cases is trending downward, but it’s still difficult to predict when the outbreak could end, a top public health official told the Free Press Friday.

Is demographic collapse a good idea?

Smartphones seem to be directly linked to a worldwide crash in the birth rate.

It is “quite plausible that the modern digital media environment has had profound effects on society that have led to a decline in romantic coupling,” said Melissa Kearney, professor of economics at the University of Notre Dame.

She has to talk that way, being an academic, but what she means is that people are doomscrolling, not copulating.

That’s old news, but the evidence for it is more impressive because it is data-based. That’s what we have social scientists for, and John Burn-Murdoch, a columnist with the Financial Times, realized that you could quantify the data if you talk to enough of them. So he did, and learned that the big drop in the birth rate happened precisely when people got smartphones.

Generic semaglutide to hit Canadian pharmacies this week at a fraction of the cost of Ozempic

TORONTO - Two generic versions of Ozempic are set to start arriving in Canadian pharmacies this week, which means patients who use the drug to treat diabetes or for weight loss may have more options for a fraction of the cost.

Health Canada approved both Dr. Reddy's and Apotex's generic semaglutide — the active ingredient in brand-name Ozempic — about three weeks ago.

Apotex is based in Canada and said it began shipping its product on Tuesday.

India-based Dr. Reddy's said in an email that its semaglutide has already arrived in "select" Canadian pharmacies and will be available more widely across the country in the coming days.

WHO chief concerned over ‘scale and speed’ of Ebola outbreak as Congo reports 134 dead

BUNIA, Congo (AP) — The head of the World Health Organization on Tuesday expressed concern over the “scale and speed” of an outbreak of a rare type of Ebola known as Bundibugyo in eastern Congo, where authorities reported 134 suspected deaths and more than 500 suspected cases.

The virus spread undetected for weeks after the first known death as authorities tested for a more common type of Ebola and came up negative, health experts and aid workers said. The Bundibugyo virus has no approved medicines or vaccines.

In Bunia, the site of the first known death, health workers in protective gear moved among residents wearing fabric masks. “I know the consequences of Ebola, I know what it’s like,” said a worried resident, Noëla Lumo.

Congo was expecting shipments from the United States and Britain of an experimental vaccine for different types of Ebola, developed by researchers at Oxford, said Jean-Jacques Muyembe, a virus expert at the National Institute of Biomedical Research.

What to know about the Bundibugyo virus, a species of Ebola causing an outbreak in Congo

The virus causing an outbreak in Congo suspected of killing more than 130 people is less common than others that cause Ebola disease, which is complicating the response because there are no specific treatments or vaccines.

“There’s nothing even close to ready for clinical trials," said Dr. Celine Gounder, an infectious disease specialist and epidemiologist who treated patients in West Africa during the 2014-2016 Ebola epidemic. “And so that means responders, healthcare workers and other aid workers are really back to the basics."

Dr. Vasee Moorthy, a special adviser in the office of the WHO chief scientist, said the most promising candidate vaccine to address Bundibugyo would not be available for at least six to nine months.

Here's what to know about Bundibugyo virus, the rare species behind the outbreak.

Alain Boucher: insuffler l’espoir au coeur du traitement

Pour Alain Boucher, rien n’est plus essentiel à la guérison qu’un grand sourire et un cœur léger. Au cours des six dernières années comme bénévole chez Action Cancer Manitoba, il a mis cette philosophie en pratique. Et avec beaucoup de succès!

Au moins deux fois par semaine, il apporte ce sourire, son attitude positive, sa sensibilité et sa capacité de bien connecter à travers le dialogue avec les clients de l’organisme.

Il affirme que c’est, avant tout, son engagement à reconnaître l’humanité de chacun de ses clients qui le rend fier du travail qu’il accomplit.

“Apporter une touche humaine à leur situation, je vois que ça fait une énorme différence. Puis ça, c’est bien la meilleure récompense. Pas besoin de salaire pour ça,” dit-il en souriant.

Health officials working to control hepatitis A outbreak in province

Public health officials are battling a hepatitis A outbreak in Manitoba not seen in decades.

Health advice is all over social media. Here’s how to vet claims

Health and wellness advice is available in abundance on social media — from trendy to informative to straight-up disinformation — and you're far from alone in seeing it.

A new survey by the Pew Research Center finds that about 4 in 10 U.S. adults — and around half of those under 50 — get health information from social media or podcasts.

Researchers also looked at the social media profiles of 6,828 health and wellness influencers with at least 100,000 followers. Only about 4 in 10 list a background as a health professional. About one-third called themselves coaches, about 3 in 10 described themselves as entrepreneurs and about 1 in 10 cited their own life experience, like being a parent.

Despite the wide range of expertise, about half of people who get health and wellness information from influencers said the influencers help them better understand their own health, while about one-third said it hasn't made much difference. About 1 in 10 said it made them more confused.

Governments blasted for inaction as HIV rates rise

An HIV/AIDS advocate who has spent the past 35 years raising awareness about the disease is calling for a national inquiry into what he calls a lack of proactive action by provincial and federal governments to prevent infections.

Albert McLeod, a two-spirit elder from Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation, says HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis — commonly known as PrEP — has been approved by Health Canada since 2016. Despite that, infection rates have continued to climb.

“It’s just this sort of very conservative attitude to our health,” McLeod said Friday, challenging anyone to find a poster in Winnipeg promoting HIV awareness or PrEP on street corners or at bus stops.

“And now it’s suddenly an emergency in 2026, when we’ve had 10 years to be proactive and let people know about the availability of this medication? Instead, we have people who are HIV positive who could be negative.”

Hep A outbreak in province’s North makes its way to Winnipeg, officials scrambling to vaccinate people at high risk

Manitoba public health officials say an outbreak of hepatitis A that began in the province’s North last year has led to an increasing number of cases in Winnipeg in recent weeks.

The outbreak, declared in April 2025, was at first affecting communities in northern Manitoba, including several remote First Nations, but has evolved in recent months and spread to other places in the province, provincial health officials said Friday.

The outbreak has spread to Winnipeg, particularly the homeless community, and people with connections to other places where the virus was already spreading.

As of April 26, 601 cases of hepatitis A virus associated with the outbreak have been identified in Manitoba, 131 of which are in Winnipeg.

Manitoba declares public health emergency over HIV rising rates

The Manitoba government declared HIV spread a public health emergency Thursday as case counts continue to escalate.

Dr. Brent Roussin, chief provincial public health officer, made the declaration at a news conference, noting cases have steadily increased over the past six years.

“In 2024, we reported a rate of 19.5 cases per 100,000 (people), which is roughly 3½ times that of Canada’s rate of 5.5,” Roussin said.

Manitoba had 328 new cases of human immunodeficiency virus in 2025, a sharp increase from the 90 tracked in 2019.

U of M fundraising $30K for dedicated breastfeeding space

The University of Manitoba is fundraising $30,000 for a lactation pod in an effort to address gaps in academia which have led to a “leaky pipeline.”

A suspected outbreak of the rare hantavirus on a cruise ship in the Atlantic kills 3 people

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — A suspected outbreak of the rare hantavirus infection on a cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean killed three people, including an elderly married couple, and sickened at least three others, the World Health Organization and South Africa's Department of Health said Sunday.

In a statement to The Associated Press, WHO said an investigation was underway but that at least one case of hantavirus had been confirmed. One of the patients was in intensive care in a South African hospital, the U.N. health agency said, and it was working with authorities to evacuate two others with symptoms from the ship.

The Dutch company that operates the cruise said the ship was now sitting off the coast of Cape Verde, an island nation off Africa's west coast, and local authorities were assisting but had not allowed anyone to disembark. It said the two sick people onboard requiring urgent medical care were crew members.

Hantavirus infections are spread mainly by rodents

‘Desperation’ drives women to private menopause care

Some women are paying private clinics up to four times the amount the public health system pays doctors for menopause primary-care visits patients can get free.

One Winnipeg woman said “desperation” drove her to make an appointment with a private clinic that charges $385 for an initial assessment by a nurse practitioner.

Erika, who did not want her last name published, said for the past year she’s suffered worsening menopause-like symptoms, including night sweats, brain fog and heavy menstrual periods. The single mother who works two jobs and turns 40 this summer said her family doctor and another primary-care physician she went to both told her she’s too young for menopause.

Neither, evidently, assessed her for perimenopause, the transition leading to menopause. During that time — which can begin when a woman is in her 30s and last for several years — hormone levels fluctuate and produce, in many cases, the symptoms Erika described.

Nurse practitioners fill void as menopause clinic to open in 2027

Some Manitoba women are paying close to $400 to access medically necessary menopause treatment from nurse practitioners who aren’t funded by the province.

“It’s a needed service that has plenty of gaps to access,” said Ashley Carruthers, chief executive officer of the Nurse Practitioners Association of Manitoba.

Premier Wab Kinew acknowledged the need at a news conference Monday to announce a $5.2-million plan to revive the menopause clinic by fall of 2027.

For now, many women must wait for access to treatment or pay a nurse practitioner.

Former chief psychiatrist legally challenges Manitoba’s detox detention laws

Manitoba’s former chief psychiatrist is challenging the constitutionality of a controversial law allowing the province to incarcerate intoxicated people for up to 72 hours, claiming that it will harm those suffering from mental illness or disabilities.

Dr. Jim Simm, an outspoken critic of the Protective Detention and Care of Intoxicated Persons Act, said in an exclusive interview on Sunday that he is seeking leave from the Court of King’s Bench to challenge the law violates provisions of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

“We’re talking about human beings who are suffering,” Simm said. “They may be acting badly but to be putting them in solitary confinement — it’s just wrong.”

As it stands now, the legislation allows someone who appears intoxicated to be held for 24 hours at a “detention location,” and then held for up to 72 additional hours at a “preventative care centre.”

Gatorade, inventor of the sports drink, is getting a rebrand targeting non-athletes

Sixty years after it invented sports drinks, Gatorade is making a surprising pivot: It’s no longer focusing primarily on athletes.

PepsiCo, Gatorade’s parent company, said Thursday that the brand wants to broaden its reach to non-athletes who are looking for ways to hydrate, whether they’re on a long flight, going for a walk or nursing a hangover. New packaging highlights the specific ways Gatorade’s various drinks and powders work and the research behind them.

The change reflects U.S. consumers’ booming interest in beverages with perceived health benefits. Jack Doggett, a food and drink analyst with the consulting firm Mintel, said his research indicates 60% of consumers who buy sports drinks aren’t athletes but want the functional ingredients those drinks provide, like electrolytes for hydration and carbohydrates for energy.

“People are using these drinks more for wellness and daily maintenance,” Doggett said. “It’s easy to say that the wellness consumer is the young consumer, but older generations are also drinking these drinks for hydration.”

Meet neffy: Health Canada approves epinephrine nasal spray for anaphylaxis

TORONTO - Health Canada has approved the first needle-free epinephrine treatment for severe allergic reactions: a nasal spray called neffy.

ALK Canada, which purchased the rights to distribute the drug, says the two-milligram treatment could be on the market as soon as this summer.

The drug was approved for adults and pediatric patients who weigh at least 30 kilograms, which is roughly 66 pounds. A one-milligram dose has been approved in the United States for kids between 15 and 30 kilograms, but not in Canada.

As it stands, epinephrine auto-injectors — a single-use pre-filled device known by the brand name EpiPen — are the only emergency treatment option available for allergic reactions.

‘Desperately missed’ victims honoured as B.C. marks 10 years of toxic drug emergency

VICTORIA -

Paula Beardy said her grandson Sheldon Beardy was a good kid.

He would have turned 28 on Monday. But his mother died last year, and after attending her memorial service in August, Sheldon also died of a drug overdose.

Paula Beardy said Sheldon used to stay with her a lot and she misses his happy smile.

Crop-enhancement firm eyes potato prosperity

Of all the research labs in all the cities in all the world, Kinneret Shefer walks into St. Boniface Hospital’s.

The researcher and entrepreneur is the co-founder of GeneNeer Ltd., an agricultural biotechnology company from Israel. Earlier this year, the company established its North American operations at the Albrechtsen Research Centre in the central Winnipeg hospital.

“We moved to Canada because our technology developed, we are moving to implementation and we have some business agreements in negotiation,” said Shefer, who holds a PhD in genetic counselling from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

GeneNeer launched its Canadian operations in January. The company converted laboratory facilities at the research centre and had them operating within two weeks, allowing research activities to begin almost immediately.