Infectious Disease

490 articles:
COVID-19
Flu
Ebola
STI
Zika
Urinary Tract Infections
Variants
by Gwyneth Boone

The human cost of fighting COVID in prisons: Solitary confinement, banned for its cruelty, has made a comeback

In 2019, the Ontario Court of Appeals called solitary confinement a form of cruel and unusual punishment. Three years later, federal prisons are still placing prisoners in solitary confinement.
by Jacob J. Shelley

Making schools safe spaces: The legal authority for school boards to enact masking policies

Despite the confusion and the province's edict, Ontario's Education Act clearly gives boards the authority to enact policies aimed at promoting student well-being, meaning they have the right and obligation to impose mask mandates if student health is at stake.
by Anne Borden King

Giving birth during the blizzard of 2022 – while fighting COVID

Carrie Clayton drove herself though downtown Toronto during January's record-breaking blizzard to give birth to her daughter. To make matters worse - Carrie also had COVID. This is her story.

by Nicole Naimer

Quit your job, go home and prepare to die: Surviving the AIDS epidemic

In 1986, I left Toronto and moved to New York. I fell head over heels for a man in 1988. We wanted to make sure we didn’t transmit HIV to each other, so we got tested. I felt healthy as ever. However, my test came back: HIV positive.
by Jacob J. Shelley

The end of public health in Ontario

The failure to use section 22 powers during the most devastating public health crisis in the last 100 years signals the end of public health in Ontario. This is a direct result of the inaction of those vested with the power to protect public health.
by Moses Der Arakelian Julian Surujballi

The plastic pandemic

Face masks have helped gain the upper hand against COVID-19, but if we continue to consider the needs of today above sustainability for tomorrow, it might not even matter.
by Maddi Dellplain

Is Canada ready to lift mask mandates? Experts weigh in

As public health restrictions lift across the country, we asked experts to weigh in on whether it's time to do away with mask mandates.
by Nakia K. Lee-Foon Adalsteinn Brown

Why equity indicators are essential in COVID-19 monitoring

Unarguably, a profound weakness in our public health response to COVID-19 has been the equity-blind approach that numerous jurisdictions adopted when the pandemic began.
by Seema Marwaha

Finding joy and meaning in our new reality

Dr. Seema Marwaha, our editor-in-chief, pens a column for Best Health Magazine about the second anniversary of the pandemic. She writes: "as we head into our third pandemic year, the mood is palpably different. Unlike 2021, we have been here before. We know that returning to restaurants, social gatherings and a general sense of normalcy may be temporary."

by Jeffrey Mo

The paradox of CO2: Leading cause of climate change essential for food, drink – and COVID vaccines

Carbon dioxide is the leading cause of climate change. But when the U.K. experienced a shortage of CO2 last year, it drove consumer fears of higher prices for food and drink. At the heart of this paradox is that, for all the damage that CO2 does, it also has some essential uses in modern society.
by Jill Moffatt Anthony Fong

For Olympic hopefuls, long COVID poses career threat

World-class athletes are facing the fact that age and fitness doesn’t spare them from prolonged COVID symptoms that could be career ending.
by Arnav Agarwal Pooja Gandhi

Health Care in Hues: Standing Strong Against Misinformation

Physicians, nurses, pharmacists and other allied health professionals continue to wade through rapidly evolving evidence to provide care to patients and keep the health-care system upright.
by Mary-Kay Whittaker

‘Lives are at stake’: Burnout, staff shortages raise spectre of harmful events in hospital

The combined pandemic toll of a nursing shortage, an exhausted and increasingly inexperienced hospital workforce and a lack of hospital presence for family and friend patient advocates may be a precursor to increased risk of harm while in hospital.
by Nili Kaplan-Myrth

‘We will not hide out of fear’: Open letter speaks out against harassment

Physicians and other health-care workers have been subject to harassment and intimidation for doing their day-to-day work during the pandemic explains Dr. Kaplan-Myrth, who recently penned an open letter asserting why health professionals should not hide out of fear of violence from hate-fueled convoys.

by Daneese Rao

‘It will take time to rebuild trust’: Travel bans upended lives of African students in Canada

Following the emergence of Omicron in late November, Canada and several other countries placed travel restrictions on 10 African nations. While the measures are no longer in force, their effects will be felt for a long time to come.
by Andrew McRae

Living with endemic SARS-CoV-2 isn’t the same as ‘back to normal’

As provinces scrap vaccine passports and other public health measures, more and people people are speaking about “living with the virus." But this does not mean that we can live as we did before the pandemic. Public health measures will continue.
by Anthony Fong

Emergency departments at a ‘tipping point’

Emergency departments are in the “last stage of system failure.” Experts are calling for Canada to rethink how we use the departments to fill growing gaps in non-emergency care.
by Damian Lange

Adding more beds is not the solution to overcrowding in Canadian hospitals

The reality is that more hospital beds are not going to be the panacea for our health-care system that many want, hope and need them to be. Instead, there are several ways to drive improvements in the national health-care structures.

by Kathleen Finlay

Making compassion the new normal

Here’s another supply-chain challenge created by the coronavirus: the delivery of more compassion by our governments and public institutions. It's time our major institutions committed to acting compassionately.

by Anthea Lai

Hope and spiritual care

Spiritual care can be a powerful therapeutic intervention. However, 80 per cent of patients reported that physicians never or rarely discuss spiritual or religious issues with them. But the role of spiritual health does not have to fall on physicians alone.

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