Date: Monday Jan. 9, 2012 1:13 PM ET

TORONTO — Were you out of commission for most of the holidays? Laid low by some alien that invaded your throat and-or chest and-or sinuses and wouldn’t let go?

Well, you weren’t alone. There seems to be a whole lot of coughing, sneezing and nose-blowing going on.

But if you put it down to flu, you probably ought to think again. There’s been very little influenza activity in Canada so far this year, though surveillance data suggests it is just now starting to pick up. if you’ve been sick already this winter, it likely wasn’t with influenza — which means, unfortunately that there’s still time to catch flu too.

So if it wasn’t influenza, what did you have? Well, there are a bunch of viruses that cause what the medical world describes as an “ILI” or influenza-like illness.

Human metapneumoviruses, parainfluenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV for short), adenoviruses and rhinoviruses — the commonest cause of the common cold — can all trigger head colds or more severe cold- and flu-like symptoms.

But people rarely see doctors when they are suffering from uncomplicated colds or the flu, and when they do, doctors rarely run a test to identify the cause. why bother? if it’s a virus — and chances are good this time of year whatever is ailing you is viral — the medical arsenal has little to offer. the infection just has to run its course.

So there’s no way for the average person to know what the culprit is. Heck, even the experts don’t generally know.

Dr. Danuta Skowronski, an influenza specialist at the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control, was sick over the entire Christmas season. Two weeks later, her voice still sounds like it belongs to someone else. while she knows a lot about respiratory ailments, she can only make an informed guess about what it was that hit her.

“I’m quite sure it’s not influenza. I didn’t have the fever, the general aches,” Skowronski says. “Whatever it is, it’s hung on for a good long time, so I don’t think it’s a rhinovirus. RSV or human metapneumo are options … but I’ve not been tested so I don’t know.”

Every Friday during the fall, winter and spring, the Public Health Agency of Canada publishes a report on influenza activity called FluWatch. it contains a graph showing the percentage of positive tests for a handful of respiratory viruses as well as flu.

The data present a national picture, which may not help you home in on what’s going around in your particular community. but it does show that right around the end of the year there was a big surge in cases of RSV. Most of the activity has centred around new Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Quebec and Ontario.

The virus attacks the lungs and breathing passages, according to material on the website of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. Most people recover within a week or two, though infection can be severe in premature infants, toddlers with heart or lung problems, children and adults with compromised immune systems and people over the age of 65.

RSV is the most common cause of pneumonia and bronchiolitis — inflammation of the small airways of the lung — in children under 12 months old in the U.S., the CDC says. That’s probably true about Canada as well, says Dr. John Spika, director general of the Public Health Agency of Canada’s centre for immunization and respiratory infectious diseases.

“We are hearing about more people being out ill. And it may well be that some of that illness may be due to RSV at this point in time,” Spika says.

RSV circulates every year, though it doesn’t sweep across the entire country in the way flu does, Spika says. He notes, though, that RSV causes a lot of problems in remote northern communities, where young kids who come down with it often have to be flown out for hospital care down south. “They develop an asthma-like illness.”

While it might be interesting to know what to blame your illness on, from a public health or personal care point of view, it doesn’t make a lot of difference.

The messaging from health professionals will be pretty much the same whether you have RSV or a rhinovirus, says Dr. Richard Rusk, the medical officer of health for communicable diseases with Manitoba Health.

Take care of yourself — get plenty of rest and drink plenty of fluids — and try to prevent spreading your bug to others by washing your hands, covering your cough and staying home if you can.

If your ailment left you speechless — in other words, laryngitis claimed your voice — you can also blame a virus.

“It’s kind of a good news, bad news thing when people develop laryngitis,” says Rusk. “I always tell my patients: ‘Well, the good news is you don’t have a severe bacterial infection that could end up hospitalizing you. you just have a virus. but the bad news is it could take you two weeks to get over it.”‘

With reports of flu activity picking up, it’s likely you’ll be hearing more about sick friends, family members or colleagues in the next few weeks.

The proportion of infected people who are too sick to go to work or who need to go to hospital is much higher with influenza than with the other respiratory viruses, says Dr. Allison McGeer, an infectious diseases specialist at Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital.

And McGeer says something else may be looming on the horizon, at least in some parts of the country. It’s not a respiratory virus — it doesn’t spread though coughing and sneezing. but it does make people miserable.

There have been 11 norovirus outbreaks in long-term care facilities in the Toronto area since Christmas, McGeer says, noting that could be a sign this may be an active norovirus year.

The Public Health Agency of Canada says that of the provinces and territories that report data to the National Enteric Surveillance Program, all have experienced norovirus outbreaks in long-term care and other institutions over the past few weeks.

Noroviruses attack the intestinal tract, triggering explosive diarrhea and vomiting. Like respiratory viruses, they also circulate during winter.

its our group act. at school. i chose the group logical so please help…

There is a good overview of Lung Cancer that should be ideal for you to put something together at this site:

bodyandhealth.canada.com/channel_…

There is a cancer website I came across that has a pretty good concise list of different cancers and contact information:
forthefightagainstcancer.webs.com

Hope this helps!

Heartland Research Associates of Newton announced it is participating in a phase II clinical study of a vaccine for a common but sometimes deadly bacterial infection. the illness being studied is Clostridium difficile infection, which also is  known as CDI. Clostridium difficile is a naturally occurring bacteria present in humans. When a person is given antibiotics, good bacteria in the body can be killed, which lets the Clostridium difficile multiply, said Erin Hiebert, Heartland patient referral specialist. the bacteria releases toxins, which leads to inflammation of the colon. Symptoms of CDI can be dehydration and diarrhea. Depending on the patient’s underlying conditions, in rare cases, it can result in death. Heartland was one of 30 sites in the world to be selected for this trial and one of 20 sites in the United States. Clostridium difficile is present worldwide and has become the most frequent hospital-acquired infection in the United States, Europe and Canada. the incidence of CDI has increased significantly in recent years in both North America and Europe. CDI-related treatments in these two regions of the world are estimated to cost more than $7 billion per year. CDI can be treated with antibiotics, however, Dr. Richard Glover II, principal investigator for Heartland Research and family physician with Axtell Clinic, said doctors are more frequently encountering antibiotic resistant strains. In this CDI vaccine trial, Heartland will administer a vaccine to 20 people younger than 75 right before they enter the hospital, nursing home or rehabilitation hospital, as stays in these medical centers increase the likelihood of a person developing CDI. Glover said Heartland is working with local physicians to refer patients to the study. Glover said the vaccine has proven safe in previous tests. “this investigational vaccine already has completed phase I clinical trials in more than 200 participants to evaluate its safety and immunogenicity,” Glover said. He said, thus far, the vaccine’s side effects have been minimal and the potential benefits of preventing CDI far outweigh any minimal risk in taking the vaccine. Glover said he hopes enough information can be generated from this trial the Food and Drug Administration will approve the vaccine and it will soon be available to the public. “I would predict (the vaccine) would be given to a lot of people who are entering the hospital, having surgery or are being treated with antibiotics,” he said.

Healthcare in Canada  Health Home >> Healthcare in Canada >> Health news Written by: JON WILLING, QMI Agency Aug. 13, 2010

OTTAWA – The sexual health centre is so hectic that Ottawa public health will ask city council for more money to hire additional staff to deal with a booming caseload of sexually transmitted infections.

“It’s pretty much no different from a family medical clinic,” program manager Andrew Hendriks said at the Clarence St. walk-in centre Thursday.

“It’s definitely packed.”

The centre saw 4,530 people pass through the doors between April and June, making it the highest tally of clients in one quarter since 2005.

Hendriks expects the number to rise even more this quarter.

AdHe said there has always been a demand in Ottawa for sexual health services but lately more people are seeking advice from city experts.

There has been a large increase in the number of reported cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis in Ottawa, he said. For example, the number of reported cases of chlamydia — the most frequently reported of the three — jumped 52% between 2005 and 2009.

Dr. Vera Etches, the city’s associate medical officer of health, said clinics in other cities are seeing a similar trend.

“We know the rate of sexually transmitted infections are increasing,” Etches said, noting that there’s no simple answer to why the numbers are going up.

There are 80 city staff who work in the sexual health unit and 35 of them are dedicated to the clinic.

On a typical Thursday the clinic will see several dozen clients but Mondays are typically the busiest days for staff. It’s not uncommon for nurses to stay late to see people who have waited in line. Staff have developed a triage system so the most serious cases are handled quickly.

In addition to infection tests and treatment, the clinic provides pregnancy tests, emergency and affordable contraception, Hepatitis A and B vaccines, counselling and workshops.

Etches said ideally the program would like to hire eight more nurses and open a new sexual health centre.

But it’s not clear exactly how much money they would need.

The centre could help thousands more if it had added resources, she said.

Etches said staff are seeing potential clients walk away from the clinic when it’s busy.

Sometimes there will be a line already forming at the clinic door before it opens.

The most common client is between 15 and 29 years old, although nurses are seeing more men in their 30s and 40s with symptoms of syphilis.

Sexual health services run on a budget of about $1.5 million but it also generates some revenue from OHIP and contraception sales.

There are also satellite clinics and outreach services operated by the unit.

“Really, the next step is to expand,” Hendriks said.

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Cystic fibrosis is a serious genetic disorder with reduced life expectancy. a common genetic disorder among Caucasian people, this disease occurs in one of every 3,200 Caucasian births. the mutation in the gene varies according to the geographical background. Cystic fibrosis occurs in one out of every 15,000 African-American births. the life expectancy of cystic fibrosis patients has been increasing over the past 40 years. In the 1980s life expectancy of people with cystic fibrosis was 14 years.

10 years back, the life expectancy of a person with cystic fibrosis was around 18 years. Today it is 35 years. the median life expectancy of a newborn with cystic fibrosis has increased from 4 years to 32 years. it has been estimated that there has been more than 10 year increase in the average life expectancy of affected people in North America. Over 90% of the affected infants now survive beyond one year. Studies show that life expectancy of children will exceed 40 years. Life expectancy of individuals with adequate pancreatic function can be more than 50 years.

In the United States, approximately 30,000 people have cystic fibrosis. Around 1,000 new cases of cystic fibrosis are diagnosed each year. one child of every 3,500 is born with cystic fibrosis. In Canada, the overall cystic fibrosis birth rate from 1971-1970 was stable. From 1988, cystic fibrosis birth rate increased to a rate of 1 in 3,608. Cystic fibrosis birth rate is stable for the last few years. In the UK, cystic fibrosis birth is about 1 in 2400 and 4% of the people are cystic fibrosis carriers.

80% of patients are diagnosed by the age of three. 10% of patients are diagnosed at the age of 18 and 3% patients are diagnosed in adulthood. Vast improvements in treatment have increased the life expectancy of cystic fibrosis patients.