The flu season slows down in southwestern Ontario

Regional public health officials say the unusually late onset of the flu season in southwestern Ontario is not a reason to lower guard.

The Middlebad Health Unit in London has not had laboratory-confirmed influenza cases since September. 1. During the same period last year, seven confirmed laboratory cases – in a particularly deadly year in the London area. There were already eight in 2016.

There are also no laboratory-confirmed cases of influenza in Elgin and Oxford counties, said Dr. Joyce Lock. , medical officer of health of Southwestern Public Health, but it is unlikely that it remains so.

"There have been cases in the areas around us, such as Niagara and the city of Toronto. If I understand correctly, there has been a bit of sporadic activity in Perth and Haldimand-Norfolk, "Lock said. "It should be on our doorstep soon. So the sooner people get vaccinated against the flu, the better.

About a month ago, Chatham-Kent had a positive hospitalization test for influenza, the medical officer of health of the Chatham-Kent Public Health Unit, Dr. David Colby . I said. This is the only case that they have had so far this flu season.

In Ontario, public health units reported 41 laboratory-confirmed influenza cases between November 11 and 17 – the latest data available.

The exact reason Mary Lou Albanese, Head of the Infectious Disease Control Team at the Middlebad-London Health Unit,

"It is a bit unusual that we have not yet case, "she said. . "The vaccine is certainly at the top in terms of circulation and circulation in other hemispheres. So, that could certainly be related to that.

The late flu season begins in the London area shortly after last winter's brutal flu index, the worst in years. The Middlebad-London Health Unit reported 44 influenza deaths during the 2017-2018 influenza season and 870 laboratory-confirmed cases of influenza. In the past five years, the local public health agency has generally recorded between 380 and 480 laboratory-confirmed cases during the influenza season.

Albanese said that there was a slight discrepancy between the vaccine available last year and the circulating strains. but is encouraged by this season's influenza vaccine.

And although Canadian health officials are watching the virus in Australia during the influenza season from May to October to get a sense of what Canadians might be, Albanese dares not guess what's happening Southwestern Ontario is waiting for months to come.

"We try not to predict, because it's Murphy's law that gives us the opposite," she said. "It's the challenge of the flu, it's completely unpredictable and it can change."

Since the virus is not very active in the region, it's a good time to get vaccinated, Albanese said. It sometimes takes a few weeks for newly vaccinated people to develop an immune response.

In Oxford and Elgin Counties, Lock stated that the flu shot application has been good so far – so the health department has exhausted its initial shipment of the vaccine and has had to provide more to meet the demands of family physicians and pharmacies.

Even though the flu is not yet in health department statistics, Lock said it was important that the public remain vigilant. 19659002] "We encourage people to get the flu shot and do all the other healthy activities, such as washing their hands, coughing at the elbow and staying home when they are sick," she said.