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The year 1850 was plagued by stormy weather and the turbulent conditions were closely followed by the aptly named George Merryweather, a doctor in Whitby, North Yorkshire, who claimed to forecast storms using leeches. Merryweather had been inspired by distinguished predecessors such as the 18th-century poet William Cowper. “I have a leech in a bottle that foretells all these prodigies and convulsions of Nature,” Cowper wrote. “He is worth all the barometers in the world.” Edward Jenner, inventor of the smallpox vaccine, was another believer in the forecasting abilities of leeches, observing how agitated they became before storms: “The leech...

Gather 'round children! The Canadian Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario has some super interesting new information for you! First, we're going to learn a new acronym. Can you say, "LGGBDTTTIQQAAPP?" Let's try it to the tune of "Old MacDonald!" Everyone sing along! Next, we'll learn what these letters mean. Are you ready?

TORONTO (CP) - The cluster of respiratory illness among dialysis patients that was feared to be Ontario's latest SARS outbreak may not in fact be the dreaded disease, a member of the SARS containment team said Wednesday. Dr. Allison McGeer said investigations into the suspected cluster are leading experts to the conclusion that something else might be responsible for much, if not all, of the illness. "There is some concerning respiratory illness . . . in the dialysis patients and some inpatient areas at Lakeridge and in some nursing homes. It appears at the moment that at least the majority...

Canada Faces SARS Questions With Possible New Toronto Cluster, Link to North Carolina Case The Associated Press TORONTO June 10 — Health authorities in Canada's biggest city scrambled Tuesday to explain possible new SARS cases at one hospital and how a recent visitor from the United States came down with the illness after returning home. The 15 patients showing symptoms of severe acute respiratory syndrome at a hospital outside Toronto, and the U.S. man with SARS under quarantine at his home near Raleigh, N.C., renewed fears that the World Health Organization could impose another travel warning for the city. At...

CTV.ca News Staff There is more bad news this morning for Canada in the battle against SARS. U.S. officials have confirmed that Toronto has exported a case of the pneumonia-like illness to North Carolina. The 47-year-old man developed a fever and pneumonia after visiting the city. While he did visit a patient in a health care facility, exactly how he contracted SARS is a mystery. The man visited the Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care in north Toronto on May 16 and 17. Two people who shared the room with the person he visited came down with SARS, but five to...

<p>MONTREAL -- Weary Canadian public health doctors sought yesterday to determine whether a new outbreak of SARS has erupted in greater Toronto, where 33 people have died of the flulike virus and the medical system in the country's biggest metropolis is straining under the burden of the disease.</p>

Toronto — Doctors are anxiously trying to determine whether 15 patients who developed SARS-like symptoms after attending a dialysis clinic in Whitby actually have the disease — a finding that would represent a huge setback in the fight against the virus. As worried health officials sort out the situation, hundreds of people who came in contact with the patients or attended the clinic are being put in isolation and officials are scrambling to determine whether there is a link to known cases. "We have to, in these times, assume that they may be SARS and we have to take those...

New SARS outbreak feared at Whitby hospital Fifteen dialysis patients have respiratory symptoms HELEN BRANSWELL CANADIAN PRESS An unexplained cluster of respiratory illnesses at a hospital east of Toronto has Ontario's SARS containment team worried about the possibility of a new outbreak of the disease. Fifteen dialysis patients of the Whitby site of the Lakeridge Health Centre have pneumonia or respiratory symptoms and are under investigation as possible SARS patients, Dr. James Young, Ontario's commissioner of public security, said today. In addition, "there have been some staff reports of illness today which we are looking into," said Dr. Donna Reynolds,...