XPost: can.politics, ab.politics, edm.general   
   XPost: tor.general, ont.politics, bc.politics   
   From: gregcarrsober@gmail.com   
      
   On 03/01/2014 2:31 PM, ConɀƦConɀ wrote:   
   >   
   > Toronto Star - News / GTA   
   >   
   >   
   > Two confirmed deaths in Toronto from H1N1flu   
   >   
   > The “swine flu” strain behind the 2009 pandemic is back, but far less   
   > deadly: Ontario has recorded 6 deaths; Alberta 5. And that shot you got   
   > will protect you.   
   >   
   >   
   > Unlike 2009, when vaccines against H1N1 were in short supply,   
   > authorities anticipated this year's resurgence of the flu strain and   
   > included it in the standard shots. More people are likely to have   
   > natural immunity to it this time around, after previous exposure.   
   >   
   > The same deadly H1N1 flu virus that caused widespread panic in 2009 is   
   > back this year, but experts say there’s a big difference between that   
   > outbreak and this flu season.   
   >   
   > Toronto Public Health has confirmed two fatal cases of H1N1, and three   
   > other people died elsewhere in Ontario in December. In Alberta, demand   
   > for the flu shot spiked after three deaths in Edmonton and two in   
   > Calgary from the virus. About 270 others have been hospitalized, and 965   
   > cases have been lab-confirmed.   
   >   
   > As of mid-December, there were 52 hospitalizations and 323 reported   
   > cases in Ontario.   
   >   
   > The same H1N1 strain caused the 2009 “swine flu” outbreak, which was   
   > declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization and killed   
   > 128 people in Ontario alone between April 2009 and January 2010,   
   > according to a Public Health Ontario report.   
   >   
   > The lack of immunity to this strain in children and younger adults made   
   > them unusually susceptible to a disease that more typically proves   
   > dangerous to elderly people and those with compromised immune systems.   
   > Infected pregnant women were hospitalized at a higher-than-average rate,   
   > and an infant who died in a London, Ont., hospital was suspected of   
   > having the virus.   
   >   
   >   
   > The real lessons of H1N1   
   >   
   > While health officials and infectious-disease experts say H1N1 is   
   > responsible for the majority of flu cases this year on Ontario, those   
   > who received a flu shot are probably protected.   
   >   
   > Officially, 130 people died of influenza last year in Toronto, but that   
   > figure probably captures only one-quarter of the cases; most go   
   > unreported. About 2,000 people die in Canada year from influenza or its   
   > complications.   
   >   
   > Dr. Allison McGeer, infectious disease specialist at Mount Sinai   
   > Hospital, said this has been an “average” flu season generally.   
   >   
   > “It’s mostly H1N1, which means it’s mostly in children and younger   
   > adults than in older adults and nursing homes,” McGeer said. Mount Sinai   
   > hospital has also treated several pregnant women, she said.   
   >   
   > In the last week of December 2012, Toronto Public Health recorded 199   
   > lab-confirmed flu cases, mostly seasonal strain H3N2. This year, the   
   > figure stood at just 83, mostly H1N1.   
   >   
   > All new cases diagnosed last week were classified as Influenza A; 15   
   > were confirmed as H1N1, and the others are likely also H1N1, McGeer   
   > said. There were zero seasonal H3N2 cases, and one case of Influenza B.   
   >   
   > The symptoms of H1N1 are the same as the seasonal flu: fever, aches and   
   > pains, chills, sore throat, nausea. Older adults who may have been   
   > exposed to it in the 1950s, when H1N1 also appeared in Canada, have some   
   > natural immunity because the strain does not mutate as readily as   
   > seasonal flu H3N2 or Influenza B. The population generally also has more   
   > immunity than it did four years ago, when H1N1 made its reappearance here.   
   >   
   > Though this year’s flu vaccine protected against H1N1, its efficacy will   
   > be reduced as flu season peaks. It takes two weeks after the shot to   
   > achieve full protection.   
   >   
   > “It’s still better than nothing,” McGeer said.   
   >   
   > There’s no need to panic, said Dr. Doug Sider, medical director,   
   > Communicable Disease Prevention and Control at Public Health Ontario.   
   >   
   > Reporting deaths from the flu is “totally expected at this point in time   
   > in any given influenza season,” he said, adding that Ontario data is   
   > only updated to mid-December and the full impact won’t be known until   
   > flu season subsides and full reports are made to public health agencies.   
   >   
   > There are probably “a couple hundred” cases of H1N1 in Ontario so far   
   > this season, but at this time last year there were 1,400 confirmed cases   
   > of influenza, Sider said, virtually all of them seasonal flu.   
   >   
   >   
   Glad I got my annual flu shot some time ago. It is easily available here   
   from pharmacies and doctors.   
      
   --   
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)