Swine Flu 'Levelling Off' in Canada

Source: CBC News

Posted: 11/25/09 3:52PM

Filed Under: Canada

The number of new swine flu cases across some communities in Canada appears to be levelling off, federal health officials said Wednesday.

"We say it is levelling off because in most communities, the number of positive tests has fallen and there have been fewer reports of flu outbreaks in schools," Canada's chief public health officer, Dr. David Butler-Jones, told a news conference in Ottawa.

"This is in line with what some Northern Hemisphere countries are seeing. However, in the last few weeks, the number of people with influenza-like illness seeking medical treatment was still four to seven times higher than what is usually seen at this time of year for seasonal flu."

No all-clear has been issued, since H1N1 infections occur in waves and don't hit all areas at the same time.

It's also impossible to tell whether a peak in new infections has occurred until after the fact. In the spring for example, what health officials thought was a peak actually occurred two weeks later because of a delay in reporting cases and hospitalizations, Butler-Jones said.

Public health officials in Canada and the U.S. have expressed particular concerns about the coming holiday season. People travel and meet to share festivities, but also, unfortunately, infectious diseases, Butler-Jones said in reiterating the importance of:

-Washing hands. -Coughing and sneezing into one's sleeve and not the air. -Thinking of food poisoning when handling dips. -Getting vaccinated.

Vaccine distribution

By the end of this week, more than 15 million doses of the H1N1 vaccine will have been distributed to provinces and territories, enough to immunize half the population, Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq said. So far, a quarter of Canadians have received the H1N1 vaccine, she said.

There have been 24 cases of confirmed anaphylaxis among people who received the H1N1 shot in Canada. Anaphylaxis is a severe allergic reaction that can cause a person's airways to close up and must be treated quickly with adrenaline, which is available at flu clinics.

Overall, there has been 0.32 cases for every 100,000 doses of vaccine given so far, Butler-Jones said.

For a lot of vaccine that was withdrawn in provinces last week, the rate is four per 100,000, which is still low. Health Canada and the vaccine manufacturer, GlaxoSmithKline, are investigating, he said.

Butler-Jones and Aglukkaq credited Canada's intensive surveillance, down to the lot level, compared with other countries that are not so specific.

All vaccines can induce anaphylaxis but typically do so at very low rates, experts say.

As of Tuesday, provinces and territories reported 232 people in hospital and 68 in intensive care with swine flu. The total number of lab-confirmed deaths in Canada since the pandemic began in the spring is 304.

Fewer outbreaks of other infections seem to be occurring in Canada, Butler-Jones said.

"In Canada, the usual outbreaks that we would see or be tracking we're not seeing — we don't seem to be seeing as many of them. So it may be as we hoped — as we expected — people doing the kinds of things that prevent influenza are also preventing a lot of other infections as well. I think we're all better for it."

With files from The Canadian Press

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