N.B. holds flu at bay
Published Tuesday November 17th, 2009
H1N1 impact hard to compare with seasonal flu
New Brunswickers' awareness of the H1N1 flu virus has been acute as a result of worldwide media coverage and an aggressive immunization program.
However, the actual impact on New Brunswickers has been relatively limited compared to some other parts of Canada and the world despite the tragic flu-related deaths of two men here last week.
The province's public health officials estimate that between 150 and 200 New Brunswickers died of seasonal flu during last winter's flu season.
This year, there are no comparisons to be made between the H1N1 flu virus and the so-called seasonal flu because the latter has been virtually non-existent, says Dr. André Dascal, an associate professor of medicine, microbiology and immunology at McGill University, and the senior infectious disease physician at Montreal's Jewish General Hospital.
"When you have a pandemic, what basically happens is that the pandemic strain takes over and pushes the other strains away and it just becomes the primary strain," said Dascal, noting that seasonal flu vaccines usually combat up to three strains.
"It's a question of muscling out the other strain."
Dascal said comparing H1N1 to the seasonal flu can be like comparing apples to oranges because public health officials are recording actual hospitalizations and deaths rather than determining the flu's impact through mathematical calculations as it is done during a typical flu season.
Furthermore, immunization programs usually begin later in the season.
Dascal said the H1N1 flu has been seriously affecting many more young people than the seasonal flu because they are not naturally immune to this particular strain.
"In my experience, we have never seen so many young people in the hospital with influenza as we are seeing now," said Dascal.
However, he is quick to point out that the use of the word pandemic does not carry the same grim implications in the year 2009 as in 1918 or even the late '60s.
"It's not that there are going to be millions of deaths; the 1918 pandemic will never be replicated in my lifetime," said Dascal.
However, he said the virus does have the potential to seriously stress the health-care system because of the absence of natural immunity in much of the population.
That is why the vaccination program is so important, he said.
"If you end up with 30 per cent to 50 per cent of the population that is sick, it is a huge impact on society," he said.
That means people should be getting vaccinated as soon as they get the nod from public health officials, and they should continue to take precautions such as washing their hands regularly and cleaning common surfaces.
However, Dascal said there is no reason to panic.
"Does it merit not to sleep at night? No. Does it merit not going to a restaurant? No.
"I think it would relatively inappropriate to be locked up in an apartment."
Dascal said society has changed its view of death since other pandemics of the past.
"The last time we had pandemics in '67 and '68, the transmission of information was much slower," he said.
"The attitude was different, something important has happened to the way society perceives its members passing away."
Dascal said more importance is attached to individual lives today.
"The perception people have of the amount of energy that should be given to save a life is more than before," he said.
Like most of the country, New Brunswick has not yet seen the peak of the second wave of H1N1 flu, according to public health officials.
Last week, Dr. Eilish Cleary, the province's chief medical officer, said the virus had yet to hit its peak in New Brunswick.
"We are still seeing the rate of increase, we are still seeing it predominantly in younger people, which is the typical pattern," she said, noting that the virus had progressed further in some provinces further west. She also noted that flu viruses are unpredictable and projections difficult to make.
"There are no rules to the way influenza behaves, although there are some patterns, so it may be seen that it does increase and then decrease again."
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Let me just check this off on miraculously survived checklist.
survived menegitis scare.................. √
survived bird flu scare................... √
survived SARS scare....................... √
survived Reta McNeil Christmas special.... √
survived H1N1 scare....................... √
survived Shawn Graham Government.......... Pending
Just one left to check off. Oddly the last one on my list is the only one we should all be afraid of.
This damn panic, I mean pandemic was great advertising for vaccine makers. Nothing more than sales of vaccines was at the heart of this hype. Seasonal flu vaccines dropped to a record low in North America last year, and as such vaccine makers were threatening to stop producing seasonal flu vaccines, as they were losing money. So the WHO dropped the qualifications for a pandemic, and here we are. The new definition of pandemic could now be used to describe the seasonal flu. I find it ironic that only 30% of Canadians wanted this vaccine before the hype, now it's somewhere around 70%. What does GSK do, they nearly double the price of the vaccine, from $16 a shot to $30. Nothing more than greed in my opinion.