Influenza outbreak warning declared
Health unit says outbreak is now community wide; PRHC ER swamped
The medical officer of health has declared a community-wide influenza outbreak in Peterborough following a recent spike in the number of confirmed cases of the illness.
There are influenza outbreaks at four local long-term-care homes, stated Dr. Rosana Salvaterra in a press release issued Thursday afternoon, and employees there who didn’t get vaccinated are being instructed to take anti-viral medication.
Meanwhile the Emergency Department at Peterborough Regional Health Centre (PRHC) has seen a recent rush of patients arriving with flu-like symptoms, Salvaterra added.
Although she couldn’t be reached for comment Thursday evening, Salvaterra stated in the release that the flu vaccine administered this season offers good protection against the virus.
“There’s no reason to believe this year’s vaccine is not a strong match with circulating strains,” she stated.
There were news reports in December that vaccines administered in Australia may not have been effective against the predominant strain there, where flu season begins earlier.
Free vaccines are still being offered at local pharmacies, and Peterborough Public Health is holding a final flu clinic for families with young children on Jan. 9 at their offices on King St. (children 6 months to four years old cannot be vaccinated in pharmacies).
But the vaccine doesn’t offer immediate protection: Salvaterra told The Examiner in December that immunization takes two weeks to kick in.
Still, a spokeswoman for PRHC urged citizens to get vaccinated.
“We strongly encourage anyone who has not gotten their flu shot to do so as soon as possible to prevent the spread of illness in our community,” stated Michelene Ough, PRHC’s director of communications, in an email Thursday evening.
Ough confirmed that PRHC’s Emergency Department has been busier than usual lately with an increase in people arriving with respiratory symptoms.
She said the Emergency Department is expecting to see 90,000 patients by March 31, compared to 83,000 the previous year.
Meanwhile the Intensive Care Unit is also seeing more patients due to the outbreak, Ough wrote.
While PRHC added 24 more beds in October to deal with the influx of patients expected during the flu season, Ough wrote that it still hasn’t been enough.
The hospital is so busy that they are asking people to assess the urgency of their illness before deciding whether to seek care at the hospital, the doctor’s office or a medical clinic.
Most healthy people who contract influenza will not have to visit their doctors, Salvaterra stated in the press release.
“However, people with a compromised immune system, other chronic diseases or even a healthy woman in the third trimester of pregnancy are at greater risk of hospitalization and death from influenza,” the release states.
Anti-viral medications are being prescribed now to anyone with symptoms of influenza and the aforementioned risk factors, Salvaterra stated.
But you must act fast: Salvaterra says anti-virals must be taken within the first 24 to 48 hours of the illness, in order to be effective.