Flu cases up across the province
By Gillian Slade on December 10, 2018.
gslade@medicinehatnews.com @MHNGillianSlade It is still early in the flu season but there have been six flu-related deaths in the province including five in Calgary and one in the northern region. Influenza “A” is the dominant strain with 2619 laboratory confirmed cases and 102 of those in Alberta Health Service’s south zone. By this date last year there had been 1448 cases confirmed in Alberta and 89 in the south zone. There have only been 18 laboratory confirmed cases of influenza “B” in the province and one of those was in the south zone. Those numbers were considerably lower than last year when by Dec. 7 there were 324 province-wide and 17 in the south zone. The number of people admitted to hospital this season with laboratory-confirmed influenza stands at 531 with 10 of those in the south zone. Last year at this stage the numbers were 459 and 22 respectively. The total number of vaccine doses administered this season is 1,050,634 and in the south zone 81,074, which is very similar to the numbers last year. The numbers have increased compared to 2015 when 956,347 had been administered in Alberta by Dec. 7, and 921,299 in 2016. Influenza is a virus that primarily affects the respiratory system and can cause serious illness and even death, particularly in vulnerable groups like seniors, young children, pregnant women and those with chronic health conditions. 8
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