 Here’s what you need to know to get the day started: | | | It's not just Lyme disease. Another tick-borne illness is on the rise | | |  | This undated photo provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows a black-legged tick. (U.S. CDC/The Canadian Press) | | | Tick experts are warning Canadians to be on the lookout for symptoms of a tick-borne disease whose case counts have been steadily increasing over the past 15 years.
It's not Lyme disease. It's anaplasmosis.
Experts are warning that they're seeing up to 500 cases a year in the regions where anaplasma-carrying ticks live, although not all of those are necessarily full-blown clinical cases of the infection. Ticks carrying anaplasmosis are primarily found in Nova Scotia, Quebec and Ontario, though cases have been reported in Manitoba and Alberta.
"It is kind of the new kid on the block," said Heather Coatsworth, a research scientist for the Public Health Agency of Canada's National Microbiology Laboratory, in an interview with Dr. Brian Goldman, host of CBC's The Dose.
Anaplasmosis is caused by a bacterium that infects white blood cells in humans and animals. Early symptoms include fever, chills, headache and fatigue. If left untreated, longer-term symptoms include respiratory failure, anemia, liver disease and, in severe cases, death. "That's primarily with immunocompromised people, as well as children and elderly," Coatsworth said.
The same ticks that carry the more-common Lyme disease — typically black-legged and Western black-legged ticks — spread anaplasmosis by biting humans. At times, researchers have encountered ticks co-infected with both diseases.
It takes roughly 18 hours of feeding for a tick to infect the host with the bacteria. The same antibiotic — doxycycline — can be used to treat both tick-borne illnesses. And once treated for anaplasmosis, patients typically recover without post-treatment symptoms, such as arthritis, seen in some Lyme disease patients.
There's no vaccine that prevents the transmission of anaplasmosis, so avoiding bites is the best prevention. "If you stop yourself from getting bitten by a tick or deal with a tick infection quickly and get the tick off, that's going to help for anaplasmosis, Lyme disease … and any of the not-fun diseases ticks transmit," said Vett Lloyd, a biology professor at Mount Allison University who runs a tick lab.
Got a news tip or story idea? Contact us. | | | | | | | | | In brief | | | Canadians are buying more SUVs and trucks than ever, despite their higher costs and greater emissions. According to DesRosiers Automotive Consultants, 86 per cent of all vehicles sold in Canada in May were classified as SUVs or pickup trucks. The trend has been greatly influenced by a combination of savvy marketing, government regulations that incentivize bigger vehicles and limited supply of more modest ones. Much of it is driven by one simple economic fact: "Smaller cars are less profitable," said Stephanie Brinley, associate director at U.S.-based transportation consultancy S&P Global Mobility. The pricier vehicles are also having an outsize effect on global warming; the International Energy Agency points out that if SUVs were a country, they would be the fifth-biggest emitter of CO2. Read more about how the automobile industry turned us into SUV drivers here.
Businesses' demand for temporary foreign workers is surging countrywide. Employers were allowed to hire more than double the people through the federal program last year as they did five years ago — up from about 109,000 to almost 240,000. The program's growth coincided with the government loosening hiring restrictions to help businesses with post-pandemic labour shortages. Some economists criticized that move, saying it undermined healthy competition for workers in a market economy. "All we hear about are labour shortages, [but] we have to begin to recognize that this really is a self-serving narrative mostly coming from corporate Canada," said Mikal Skuterud, a labour economics professor at the University of Waterloo. The program is designed to provide short-term relief to employers as a last resort, but has been scrutinized for its potential knock-on effects to the broader economy and the vulnerable position in which it can place workers. Read more about the temporary foreign worker program here.
Voters go to the polls today in a Toronto byelection that's considered a crucial test for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Toronto-St. Paul's is seen as one of the safest ridings in the country for the Liberals and has been solidly held by the party for more than 30 years. But national polls suggest the Liberals are facing some of their worst levels of support in more than eight years of power. An aggregate of polling shows the Conservatives leading by double digits. Many pollsters and pundits say a Conservative victory will put pressure on Trudeau to step down as Liberal leader, and even a tight Conservative loss could be problematic for him. Read how to follow along with the Toronto-St. Paul byelection results here.
Sore back? Your bad posture may not be to blame after all, experts say. "As a young physiotherapist, I realized there was very little research evidence," said Peter O'Sullivan, a professor of musculoskeletal physiotherapy at Curtin University in Perth, Australia. O'Sullivan has spent the last two decades studying back pain, the leading cause of disability worldwide. In a paper published last year in The Lancet, O'Sullivan and his team described a clinical trial where people with disabling back pain were explicitly taught not to protect their back. Instead they were given cognitive functional therapy exercises, such as reflecting on their pain beliefs, practising relaxation techniques, moving their bodies naturally and developing healthy lifestyle behaviours around sleep and diet. After a year, O'Sullivan says, participants who were given cognitive functional therapy experienced less pain and disability compared to those who were only given usual care. Read more about posture and back pain here.
More than 15 police officers and several civilians, including an Orthodox priest, were killed by armed militants in Russia's southern republic of Dagestan, Gov. Sergei Melikov said in a video statement early Monday. The gunmen opened fire on two Orthodox churches, a synagogue and a police post in two cities on Sunday, according to the authorities. Russia's National Anti-Terrorist Committee described the attacks in the predominantly Muslim region with a history of armed militancy as terrorist acts. Read The Associated Press on the attacks in Dagestan here.
Now here's some good news to start your Monday: Métis jiggers from Saskatchewan are sharing their different styles of jigging with others in hopes of keeping the tradition alive. Marcus Merasty, who teaches classes at the New Dance Horizons dance studio in Regina, said jigging was introduced into his home community of Pelican Narrows through the trade routes of fur traders and different Indigenous Peoples. The fur traders coming to the trading post brought elements of their culture, such as the Irish jig and fiddle music. "I can really feel the community aspect of the dance, which I really love," Merasty said. "You see people of all generations, like small, old, all dancing together and learning from each other." Read more about — and watch — some Métis jigging here. | | | FIRST PERSON | Chinese traditional medicine did nothing for my psoriasis. But it was my mother's love language | Kerry Yang suffered years of stigma and isolation as a child with psoriasis, which his mother tried to treat with Chinese traditional medicine. As an adult and medical school student, he's finally come to understand his mother's motivation. Read his first-person piece here. | | | | | | |  | The Oilers' historic Stanley Cup final comeback | The Oilers have fought back from the brink of elimination to force a Stanley Cup Game 7. What would a win mean for Edmonton and for Canada?
Listen to today's episode | | | Today in history: June 24 | | | 1880: O Canada, with music by Calixa Lavallée and French lyrics by Judge A.B. Routhier, is performed for the first time at the Skaters' Pavilion in Quebec City.
2003: Russian President Vladimir Putin arrives in London for a historic four-day state visit. He was the first Russian leader to pay a state visit to Britain in 129 years.
2011: At the NHL draft in St. Paul, Minn., it is announced that the Winnipeg franchise will again be named the Jets. The organization then selected Mark Scheifele with the seventh overall pick. (The Edmonton Oilers took Ryan Nugent-Hopkins with the first overall pick.)
2022: The U.S. Supreme Court's conservative majority ends constitutional protections for abortion that had been in place since 1973. It overturned Roe v. Wade in a decision that was unthinkable before former U.S. president Donald Trump appointed three justices to the bench. | | | (With files from CBC News, The Canadian Press, The Associated Press and Reuters) | | | | |  | CBC NEWS APP | The most convenient way to get your news
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