St. Joseph’s pharmacy will share Tamiflu
Hamilton’s pharmacies are out of the antiviral medication Tamiflu as influenza rages.
The flu is declining in Hamilton, but continues to crowd emergency departments, causing hospitals to open extra beds.
St. Joseph’s Hospital is getting at least 10 more ambulance patients a day than normal and had to increase its capacity to isolate patients.
“It’s still a lengthy wait in the ED,” said spokesperson Victoria Raab. “There’s a team of people working on the flow.” Hospitals are opening up their supplies of Tamiflu to the public this weekend, dispensing it at St. Joseph’s on Charlton Avenue East.
“It behooves everybody to have access for the public to get this treatment if they need it,” said Raab. “We have the supply and while local pharmacies wait for their replenishment, we’re happy to make it available in our pharmacy here.”
Ontario’s chief medical officer of health Dr. Arlene King told The Spectator Friday the province is getting ready to take the exceptional step of dipping into its emergency supply.
“We have a provincial stockpile and we are looking at using that,” said King. “We are putting in measures right now to ensure our pharmacies, hospitals and long-term-care homes are able to access Tamiflu and this is being implemented as we speak.”
The federal government already released a supply from the National Emergency Stockpile System Jan. 8 for manufacturer Roche Canada to distribute where it is needed.
The antiviral medication is used for early treatment within two days of symptoms starting. It can also prevent flu for those in close contact with an infected patient. It is effective against influenza A H3N2, which is responsible for the worst flu spike in five years excluding the 2009 H1N1 pandemic.
Canada had 13,073 confirmed cases of influenza by Jan. 5, compared to 440 the year before. Confirmed cases are considered the tip of the iceberg as only a small portion of patients seek medical care or get tested.
So f ar, there have been 885 people hospitalized in Canada and 51 deaths.
In the United States, influenza and pneumonia caused 7.3 per cent of deaths last week, which is above the epidemic threshold. Boston has declared a public health emergency. There is some indication that the worst may be over. Hamilton had half as many lab-confirmed cases of influenza A this week compared to last week. Nationwide confirmed cases dipped slightly in the first week of January.
Health officials still say the best protection is the flu shot and that it’s not too late to get it considering a second wave of flu usually hits in February or March. The vaccine protects against H3N2 but is still only 62 per cent effective reports the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Protection. jfrketich@thespec.com 905-526-3349 | @Jfrketich