More flu deaths in Alberta, but South Zone remains at seven

By Medicine Hat News on March 9, 2017.

While there have been two more influenza deaths across the province, the number of deaths in the South Zone has remained steady at seven since Feb. 9.

The number of flu deaths across Alberta this season stands at 49, including a total of seven in the South Zone, says Alberta Health Services. By the middle of March last year there had been 38 deaths related to flu.

Numbers released by AHS are cumulative from Aug. 28, 2016. There have been 3,588 lab-confirmed cases of influenza A and 107 cases of influenza B this season across Alberta. In the South Zone there have been 272 cases of A and 26 of B.

By the middle of March last year, there had been 3,062 cases of influenza A in the province and 789 cases of influenza B. In the South Zone for the same time frame there were 183 cases of A and 55 B.

The number of people hospitalized with lab-confirmed influenza continues to climb this season. A week ago there had been 1267 hospital admissions with lab-confirmed influenza and that number now sits at 1294, according to the latest AHS report. In the South Zone the number increased from 103 to 105 in the past week.

The number of Albertans getting vaccinated continues to increase for a total of 1,147,792 this influenza season, according to the latest data released. In the South Zone that number is 87,453.

Influenza immunization is available at public clinics, some pharmacists and physician offices. For more information, including local clinic schedules, visit http://www.ahs.ca/influenza or call Health Link at 811.

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