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WINNIPEG ? At the height of the H1N1 flu pandemic's first wave, an unusually large cluster of victims lived in one small, isolated Manitoba reserve where most homes don't have running water.
St. Theresa Point First Nation had a wave of 175 cases of likely or confirmed H1N1 in the spring of 2009, according to a study kept secret by Health Canada ? until now.
"It is likely that one contributing factor to this outbreak was the lack of running water in homes," wrote Public Health Agency of Canada epidemiologist Sue Pollock. "Without running water in the home, basic hygiene practices become a challenge, especially when the standpipe (communal tap) system is not easily accessible."
Not only could residents not wash their hands at home, the communal taps that serve the reserve may have been a nexus for H1N1 germs.
"The area around the pump was littered with garbage, posing a potential health hazard, and the pump handle could have served as a means of transmitting the novel H1N1 virus," wrote Pollock.
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St. Theresa Point First Nation had a wave of 175 cases of likely or confirmed H1N1 in the spring of 2009, according to a study kept secret by Health Canada ? until now.
"It is likely that one contributing factor to this outbreak was the lack of running water in homes," wrote Public Health Agency of Canada epidemiologist Sue Pollock. "Without running water in the home, basic hygiene practices become a challenge, especially when the standpipe (communal tap) system is not easily accessible."
Not only could residents not wash their hands at home, the communal taps that serve the reserve may have been a nexus for H1N1 germs.
"The area around the pump was littered with garbage, posing a potential health hazard, and the pump handle could have served as a means of transmitting the novel H1N1 virus," wrote Pollock.
..
