H1N1 flu scare leads to school closures

Health official urges vaccination

Two schools in Pelican Narrows and one in Southend were closed for most of last week due to an H1N1 scare within the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation community.

The closures came after Northern Inter-tribal Health Authority Inc. Medical Health Officer Dr. Nnamdi Ndubuka sent a letter to the chief and council in the communities it serves about the influenza immunization campaign.

The letter included an update about the number of laboratoryconfirmed cases of influenza; more than three-quarters of those cases were reported to be Influenza A, H1N1.

As of Thursday there were 51 labconfirmed flu cases, including nine hospitalizations and three intensive care unit admissions. NITHA serves member communities of Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation, Prince Albert Grand Council, Meadow Lake Tribal Council and Lac La Ronge Indian Band.

Ndubuka said the strain they are seeing in the North is the seasonal flu strain.

During most flu seasons, flu activity starts in the south in the larger city centres, spread from other parts of the country, and then moves north. This year, the spread of the flu is happening in the reverse, starting in northcentral communities and moving south.

In the letter to the chief and council, Ndubuka wrote that in communities where clusters of cases were reported, school closures and cancellation of community events were not recommended. In spite of that, the chief and council for Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation, to which Pelican Narrows and Southend belong, closed the three schools.

“I did make some effort to connect with them after the fact through the PBCN health services health director, just to have a conversation to clarify the recommendation and some of the key content of the document. But those efforts didn’t really materialize, they weren’t available. At the time, we tried connecting with them on the phone,” Ndubuka said.

He hopes they will reverse their decision, reopen schools and resume community events, he said. The schools are expected to reopen on Monday.

PBCN Chief Peter Beatty did not respond to a request for comment on Friday. Both Southend and Pelican Narrows are member communities of PBCN.

The flu season in Saskatchewan started two to three weeks ago and is now in what the province’s chief medical health officer, Saqib Shahab, calls the high intensity period. He said cases are expected to peak in mid- to late-december and begin to taper off in January.

The strain of H1N1 going around in the community is the one that first appeared in 2009 and was at the centre of a pandemic. In 2009, Shahab said the strain was slightly different and a special vaccine had to be made.

Since then, it’s circulated three or four times and the flu vaccine has had protection against it for the last eight or nine years.

People who have already been exposed to H1N1 have also developed some level of immunity.

The effects of the flu can be most severe in people who have pre-existing conditions, children under nine years and pregnant women. Shahab advises people to see a doctor if their symptoms are getting worse.

He advises people who get the flu and are otherwise healthy to stay home if they’re not feeling well.

Members of the public are encouraged to get the flu shot, particularly those in higher risk categories.

More information about where the free flu vaccine clinics are located can be found online at saskhealthauthority.ca.