No flu pandemic in Canada, but peak is still ahead of us

‘It’s not too late to roll up your sleeve’ for a vaccine, doctors say

“It’s actually less than you’d expect

in terms of deaths, infections and hospitalization for this time of year.”

DR. GREG TAYLOR

A recent outbreak of H1N1 influenza that killed at least five people in Alberta and three in Saskatchewan has prompted those provinces to open mass immunization clinics.

Quebec continues to offer free vaccines at local community health clinics.

What caught the attention of most people is that the influenza virus circulating now is the same that caused the H1N1 pandemic in 2009, which killed an estimated 284,500 people worldwide, especially the young.

The majority of laboratories across Canada are confirming that the most widely circulating flu virus currently being tested and reported is, in fact, H1N1.

But health officials say they’re not seeing an H1N1 epidemic. According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, the current outbreak is exactly what is expected every year.

“I want to state categorically that this is not a pandemic now,” said Dr. Greg Taylor, the agency’s deputy chief public health officer. “Those deaths are terrible. My heart goes out to the families who have lost loved ones to the flu.”

What’s really sad is that some of those deaths may have been prevented with a flu shot, he said.

But while the flu season has just started and the peak has yet to come, Taylor says the number of flu cases across the country are within normal range for this time of year and even lower in some areas, including in Alberta.

“It’s actually less than you’d expect in terms of deaths, infections and hospitalization for this time of year,” Taylor said.

An estimated 12,000 people are sick with influenza and 3,500 die of it annually in Canada, Taylor said.

The figures are estimates because not everyone who gets sick with the flu goes to a doctor or a hospital for a throat swab.

“This is a serious disease that happens every year,” Taylor said. “But it’s not too late to roll up your sleeve.”

According to the agency’s FluWatch report, provinces and territories have so far documented a total of 2,699 cases of influenza Type A (which includes H1N1) between Aug. 25 to Dec 28, 2013.

In Quebec, health officials are also reporting a recent surge in the number of flu cases.

Quebec had 180 cases of influenza in the last week of December. But that’s only onetenth of the 1,800 cases reported in December 2012, said Dr. Karl Weiss, chief of infectious diseases and microbiology at Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital and associate clinical professor at Université de Montréal.

“So it’s low compared to last year but that doesn’t mean it’s not going to increase. The next few weeks will be crucial,” Weiss said. “If we start seeing a major increase in Quebec, it will tell us that the peak of the season is coming in a few weeks.”

But it’s no pandemic, he said, which would have to be a new virus that is spreading on a worldwide scale. “That’s not the case.”

The good news is that this year’s the vaccine is a good match for the circulating virus strains. Every year, seasonal flu vaccines are designed to protect against infection and illness caused by the flu viruses that research indicates will be most common during the flu season, Weiss said.

This season’s flu vaccine, distributed across the country, does contain a strain of H1N1.

Since the pandemic of 2009, the virus remained active and continued to circulate, Weiss explained, looking for new customers to infect.

Who should get vaccinated? “The flu is more dangerous for very young and the very old, and those with underlying medical conditions, and a few high-risk groups such as pregnant women,” he said.

Those who got an H1N1 flu infection in 2009 are protect- ed; anyone immunized five years ago against H1N1 will need a booster shot because these vaccines are not effective beyond a short six to eight months.

Reaction to vaccines vary with age, Weiss said. “The older you get the less efficient the vaccine is, but these are the people who get the very serious infections. So it’s important to immunized them because these are the people dying from it,” he said.

Also, the very young born after the 2009 pandemic are also vulnerable and are usually among the first to get sick and spread the illness to their parents and siblings.

“Kids are the ignition of the outbreak,” Weiss said.

For more information on where to get vaccinated, visit www.santemontreal.qc.ca and click on the link about flu.