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Sleep apnea recall warning
Health Canada has issued a recall for a sleep apnea machine, citing concerns that the device could pose a potential risk of death to the most vulnerable patients.
The device is known as the OmniLab Advanced, and it’s typically used by people with sleep apnea — a condition where those affected stop and restart breathing while asleep.
According to the recall notice, the OmniLab Advanced may experience a ventilator inoperative alarm when the device detects an internal error or a condition that may affect therapy.
As a result, the sleep apnea machine may reboot intermittently for five to 10 seconds, restarting therapy, or even entering an inoperative state with or without reboots.
The agency says products with any lot are recalled or have the model number 1044278.
Health Canada says any of the issues could “result in interruption and/or loss of therapy which may lead to hypoventilation, mild to severe hypoxemia, hypercarbia, respiratory failure/insufficiency, or potentially death in the most vulnerable patients.”
Read more about other medical devices recalled this week by Health Canada.
Spring cleaning struggles
With the arrival of spring, many Canadians may be eager to dust off the winter grime in their homes, but experts caution against disinfecting every speck in your house.
Jason Tetro, a microbiologist based in Edmonton and specialist in emerging pathogens, said getting rid of grime and dust helps prevent asthma and other allergies.
Many people may not enjoy the sight of dirt and dust and may feel compelled to thoroughly scrub their houses from top to bottom in pursuit of a fresher atmosphere, Tetro said.
“There’s nothing wrong with that. Where it becomes a bit different is when you are disinfecting absolutely everything,” he said. “If you want to disinfect everything so there are no more microbes, you’re going to fail because the germiest place in any house is you.”
The moment a person enters a room, he said, millions of microbes can be shed from them. Because of this, achieving complete disinfection of a house is virtually impossible, as microbes will always be present in the environment.
Instead of disinfecting the entire home, Tetro recommends a targeted hygiene approach.
Read more about this spring cleaning approach and what you should use to disinfect your home.
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Bird flu jumps to dairy cows
— WHAT EXPERTS ARE SAYING —
As the deadly H5N1 bird flu continues its global spread, concerns persist regarding its potential risks to human health.
The latest development emerged after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Monday reported a human case of avian influenza in a person who had contact with dairy cows in Texas presumed to be infected with the virus.
“The thing that makes this concerning as it pertains to risk to humans is that we know humans are at most risk of viruses jumping into them when they’re in close proximity to animals that are infected,” said Matthew Miller, the director of the Degroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research at McMaster University. “And indeed, this case in Texas appears to have derived from a worker on a cattle ranch who is in proximity to an infected cow.”
In Canada, the risk to the public is still low regarding bird flu, Miller said.
However, he believes the cases involving infected dairy milk warrant “increased attention,” especially from people whose occupations put them in close exposure to wild animals and farm animals.
Miller also believes that Canadian farmers are exercising increased vigilance over their cattle in light of these cases. With the onset of spring, migration will bring waterfowl back to these areas, heightening the risk.
He reassured that there is no risk of contracting the virus from milk if it’s pasteurized.
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