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Two dozen more swine flu cases in Manitoba, but health officer says most mild
By Chinta Puxley (CP) ? 12 hours ago
WINNIPEG ? Manitoba is investigating whether it has its first death this fall due to swine flu as the number of confirmed cases in the province continues to slowly rise.
Medical health officer Joel Kettner said Thursday there were 24 new cases to bring the total to 66 since the beginning of October. There were also 14 people in intensive care with severe respiratory illnesses, but only one patient was diagnosed as having the H1N1 virus. Ten of the 14 were on ventilators.
Seven people died in the province last spring when swine flu first emerged. There haven't been any official deaths as the second wave hits, but Kettner said the province is investigating one possibility.
"I can tell you that there is at least one Manitoban under review right now who has died," he said.
He wouldn't disclose anything about the patient or the circumstances.
"The cause has not been established but we are looking at it very carefully, because it is possible that H1N1 influenza was a factor in the death."
The vast majority of cases so far have been mild, Kettner said.
"Not all of those people, in fact the majority of those lab-confirmed cases, were not hospitalized and have mild illness that is relatively inconsequential."
Canada's chief public health officer said hospitalizations, admissions to intensive care units and deaths from swine flu have been three times higher this week than last, but Manitoba doesn't appear to have seen a surge.
Brian Postl, president of the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, said the virus isn't straining area hospitals yet.
"Our emergency numbers climbed a bit in the last two weeks but they aren't at any extreme level," he said. "Our ICUs are busy, as they always are, but once again they are not experiencing any huge drain because of the H1N1 virus."
Flu clinics in Winnipeg were suspended for a day earlier in the week because of vaccine shortages, but Health Minister Theresa Oswald said immunizations were continuing as quickly as the province gets more supply. Manitoba got 17,500 doses this week and more is coming next week.
The province had given out more than two-thirds of its supply by Wednesday.
"We have been working very hard with our regional health authorities to vaccinate as many Manitobans as we can, as quickly as we can, with a special priority on those who are in the most vulnerable groups," she said.
Vaccine clinics are currently focusing on children between the ages of six months and five years, aboriginals, those under 65 with chronic medical conditions, pregnant women and single mothers.
Copyright ? 2009 The Canadian Press. All rights reserved