Alberta health officials say they are ready for this year’s flu season, including any widespread outbreaks of H1N1.
“We are readier than we have ever been. There is still some polishing up to do for some specific details of our preparations for the fall and things that need to be adjusted because we are still learning about its evolution from the southern hemisphere,” Dr. Andre Corriveau, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, said at news conference in Calgary Aug. 18.
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Corriveau said this latest flu strain is behaving much like any other even though it is a novel strain.
“There has been no major shift in the virus so far since it first arrived in late March. The disease pattern has stayed the same,” he said.
H1N1 is likely to peak in Canada around Christmas time and afflict people well into January.
Health officials are planning for 10 to 30 percent of the population to get infected from this particular strain.
Vaccines should be ready by November and officials hope at least three quarters of the national population are immunized to create a barrier against the virus, said Dr.Richard Musto, Calgary medical health officer.
Influenza strains vary and cause deaths every year.
“It is probably something we do not pay enough attention to. As a population we are quite cavalier about the flu,” said Musto.
If someone already had a confirmed case of H1N1, there is no need for vaccine. The vaccine will not provide any new benefit but it will not hurt them either.
Clinical studies on the vaccine have started in the United States and Australia but not yet in Canada.
The study results will not be ready until October so they do not know how many doses are required or which age groups should be immunized first.
On the decline
The disease appears to have peaked in countries like Australia, which has managed the virus without vaccine.
Canada has ordered 50.4 million doses of the vaccine.
Public health campaigns will run this fall and people can get their shots at health clinics and shopping malls.
Each province will manage its own flu campaign.
People are encouraged to take precautions by washing their hands frequently with soap and water, covering their mouth when coughing or sneezing and staying home when ill.
Corriveau did not think school closures held much value because the children spread the virus somewhere else.
Symptoms of this strain are similar to other regular human seasonal influenza infections. They include fever, cough, muscle aches, lethargy, lack of appetite and in some cases, runny nose, sore throat and stomach upsets like vomiting or diarrhea.
There have been 66 H1N1 deaths in Canada, with the highest numbers in Ontario and Quebec, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada.
