Introduction: influenza
widespread in many parts of the country, Public Health Agency of Canada says
influenza You may be seeing and hearing a lot of people coughing and sneezing around you right now.
Why? Well, Canada’s winter respiratory virus season got off a late start and now it is in full swing, officials say. That suggests more people are sick with the flu and landing in the hospital compared to years past.
“We haven’t seen this amount of influenza cases as well as severe illness in almost a decade,” said Dr. Karim Ali, medical director for infection prevention and control and head of services for infectious diseases at Niagara Health in Ontario.
In Quebec, Dr. Jesse Papenburg, an infectious disease specialist at Montreal Children’s Hospital and an associate professor of pediatrics at McGill University, says about one out of every three tests sent for influenza in the province currently comes back positive for flu, which reflects the intensity of this flu season.
“I think this is influenza doing what influenza does, striking in the middle of winter with an intense epidemic,” said Papenburg.
For several years up until 2023, he says about 10 to 20 percent of children admitted to pediatric hospitals for influenza needed intensive care. Back in 2006, Canadian researchers reported about 12 percent of children hospitalized with influenza were admitted to intensive care. This season’s data isn’t yet broken down.
Papenburg also notes that the flu vaccine helps protect children from being infected. “My recommendation for families is, it’s not too late to get vaccinated.”
On Friday, the Public Health Agency of Canada noted flu activity was “widespread“ in British Columbia, Ontario, and Quebec. COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) were decreasing, PHAC said. In Canada, flu season typically lasts from November to April.
influenza Later peak, more illness?
Dawn Bowdish, a professor of medicine at Hamilton’s McMaster University, pointed to national goals of vaccinating 80 per cent of vulnerable people, such as the youngest and oldest. The influenza vaccine uptake goal is meant to protect those at high risk of infection and complications from the respiratory illness, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada.