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Oct 01, 2009 04:30 AM
Theresa Boyle
<!-- CREDIT 1--> Health Reporter
<!-- ARTICLE CONTENT --> The much-anticipated second wave of the swine flu virus has arrived in Ontario, a senior provincial health official says.
"What we've seen in the last few days is a number of cases that have come to emerg departments. ... It's announcing probably the second wave of H1N1," Dr. Don Low, head of the public health laboratories with the Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion, said late Wednesday.
The flu activity is concentrated primarily in Toronto, Hamilton and London, he said. There have been very few cases of H1N1 in Ontario over the last several weeks, he noted. But on Monday, six new cases were confirmed.
Provincial labs have seen a sharp increase in influenza A cases, he said. While further testing will determine if these are the H1N1 strain, Low said it's expected that they are. Of all nasal swabs tested, the number that came back positive jumped to 14 per cent last Friday from 1 per cent earlier in the week.
"It's time to get everybody prepared and everybody to deal with it," Low said.
Canada's chief public health officer Dr. David Butler Jones told a media teleconference Wednesday that Canada will shield drug maker GalxoSmithKline from lawsuits in the event of problems with the vaccine, but not health practitioners who make mistakes in giving it.
Theresa Boyle
<!-- CREDIT 1--> Health Reporter
<!-- ARTICLE CONTENT --> The much-anticipated second wave of the swine flu virus has arrived in Ontario, a senior provincial health official says.
"What we've seen in the last few days is a number of cases that have come to emerg departments. ... It's announcing probably the second wave of H1N1," Dr. Don Low, head of the public health laboratories with the Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion, said late Wednesday.
The flu activity is concentrated primarily in Toronto, Hamilton and London, he said. There have been very few cases of H1N1 in Ontario over the last several weeks, he noted. But on Monday, six new cases were confirmed.
Provincial labs have seen a sharp increase in influenza A cases, he said. While further testing will determine if these are the H1N1 strain, Low said it's expected that they are. Of all nasal swabs tested, the number that came back positive jumped to 14 per cent last Friday from 1 per cent earlier in the week.
"It's time to get everybody prepared and everybody to deal with it," Low said.
Canada's chief public health officer Dr. David Butler Jones told a media teleconference Wednesday that Canada will shield drug maker GalxoSmithKline from lawsuits in the event of problems with the vaccine, but not health practitioners who make mistakes in giving it.
