Influenza numbers on the rise

By Gillian Slade on December 15, 2018.

gslade@medicinehatnews.com @MHNGillianSlade

There were another 564 cases of laboratory-confirmed flu reported in Alberta in the past week and the numbers have also been increasing year over year, according to Alberta Health Services reports.

A week ago there had been 2,637 lab-confirmed cases in the province and this week it had increased to 3,201. The number of people hospitalized increased from 531 to 626. Four people died from flu-related illness, bringing the total this season to 10 in Alberta.

Each year there are different strains of influenza circulating and different ratios, said Dr. Vivien Suttorp, AHS south zone medical officer of health.

“The current (strain) circulating, what is the dominant strain in Alberta, is the pandemic one from 2009 (H1N1). It is causing illness in young people and people with chronic conditions,” said Suttorp.

At this stage there has been no influenza outbreak in any seniors facilities in the south zone, Suttorp said. The vaccine is a good match this year and there is possibly some immunity from 2009 as well.

“H1N1 in general impacts the younger population, those with chronic conditions,” said Suttorp.

The majority of those hospitalized, more than 80 per cent, are people who have not been immunized, said Suttorp. The most important message is that this is a serious disease, because people do die from it, and getting immunized is important.

Suttorp says it is difficult to determine why the numbers of lab-confirmed flu and the number of people hospitalized has increased year over year.

She does not believe it is due to different criteria being used for laboratory testing and says the criteria for hospitalization has also not changed.

“I can’t really comment on that. There are so many variables,” said Suttorp.

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