Regional Public Health officials not sounding any alarm bells for the flu
Posted Jan 9, 2018 01:20:12 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A leading Public Health official in Waterloo Region says what’s happening nationwide in terms of flu cases this season is happening here as well, but she’s cautiously optimistic.
National experts in infectious diseases say there is still a lot of flu season to come in Canada, and the tough influenza-A strain, H-3-N-2, is the cause of most of the 11,000-plus cases reported in Canada.
However, Kristy Wright, Manager of Infectious Disease with Waterloo Region Public Health, says there’s nothing unusual about the roughly 80 local flu cases reported this season.
She calls that number, “not particularly alarming.”
Wright says like the national trend, most of those come from the H-3 strain — there are some Influenza B strain cases as well.
She says there have been zero reports of anyone local dying from the flu.
Wright says it’s normal to see a rise in reported flu cases in February, and she offers a resounding yes that it is not too late to get the flu vaccine.
As for that vaccine expected to be only 10 per cent effective, Wright says even a little protection is still protection.
