Swine flu hits Vancouver Island Aboriginal communities

[Treyfish]

Vancouver SunSeptember 17, 2009 12:10




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VANCOUVER ? A major outbreak of H1N1 flu has occurred within remote Aboriginal communities on Vancouver Island, the Canadian Medical Association Journal reported Thursday.



Tofino family physician Dr. John Armstrong says he has treated "dozens" of people infected with the virus, while the outbreak is such that the province's public health lab in Vancouver recently instructed him to stop sending swabs, having confirmed that all of the samples he had already forwarded were, in fact, positive for the H1N1 virus, a report in the journal said..

"We've reduced our swabbing because we know that everyone who has flu-like illness in this area right now has H1N1," Armstrong says. BC public health officials "more or less told us to stop taking swabs because the lab is getting swamped in Vancouver.":tiphat:http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/S...and+Aboriginal+communities/2004045/story.html

 

[Treyfish]

Re: Swine flu hits Vancouver Island Aboriginal communities

Swine flu pandemic hits Ahousaht, west coast Island communities



Published: Thursday, September 17, 2009

The swine flu pandemic has hit the west coast of Vancouver Island, the Canadian Medical Association Journal reports Thursday.
The first outbreak of the H1N1 virus in the 2009 fall flu season has occured within remote Aboriginal communities.
The organization quotes Tofino family doctor Dr. John Armstong, who said he has treated "dozens" of people infected with the virus. The provincial public health lab in Vancouver instructed him to stop sending swabs, having confirmed that all of the samples he forwarded were, in fact, positive for the H1N1 virus:

Poverty, chronic health problems and poor housing conditions on First Nations reserves, such as Ahousaht, above, provide an ideal breeding ground for a flu virus.

Debra Brash, Times Colonist

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"We've reduced our swabbing because we know that everyone who has flu-like illness in this area right now has H1N1," Armstrong sais in the report. BC public health officials "more or less told us to stop taking swabs because the lab is getting swamped in Vancouver."
Armstrong said most of the cases he's handled have been "fairly mild" and treatable with Tamiflu, with only two patients ? an infant and an adult over 50 years of age ? requiring hospitalization. "Most of the people I have been seeing are younger adults, between 20 and 40, some teenagers."

The largest outbreak occurred in Ahousat, the principal settlement on Flores Island, which is accessible only by water or air. Ahousat is also one of the main settlements of the Ahousaht First Nations led by hereditary chief Shawn Atleo, who was recently elected national chief of the Assembly of First Nations.
But a "big community effort kept a lid on that," as Aboriginal leaders and health officials held public meetings and urged measures to contain the spread, Armstrong said. "But now that school is starting, it's changed again. We're also seeing the same flu patterns in other communities."
Armstrong says there has not been a flu-related death within the area he serves: Tofino and the nearby communities of Hot Springs Cove and Ahousat. But another BC doctor says privately that one Vancouver Island death is "suspected" as being caused by H1N1, although "it is not yet officially confirmed by health authorities in Vancouver."
Although it has been argued that federal and provincial public health officials must loosen restrictions on distributing Tamiflu in remote communities where no physician or registered nurse is readily available on a daily basis, Armstrong says there's a balance to be struck.
"Somebody has to make the clinical diagnosis in time. Who is going to make that clinical diagnosis? The problem is that flu symptoms can look an awful lot like some other things. One of them is kidney infection. You get fever, chills, aches and pains with that. Or tonsillitis, sore throat, fever, aches and pains, headaches. Those are things that you get with influenza. The danger is that you give Tamiflu to somebody when they should be treated for appendicitis, or kidney infection, and actually causes harm because you've deferred proper diagnosis."
"On the other hand, when there's a high epidemiological likelihood of that person having the flu, it's running through the household, I don't see there's any reason why community health nurses can't be dispensing it. This really brings up the issue of access to care for people in remote places."
The outbreak also raises concerns about the availability of a pandemic (H1N1) 2009 flu vaccine. The US Food and Drug Administration this week approved a vaccine, clearing the way for vaccinations to commence in early October. In Europe, vaccinations are expected to commence in late September.
Canadian health officials, meanwhile, have provided no indication whatsoever of when a vaccine might actually be available north of the 49th parallel, beyond saying it "might" be available in mid-November. The Public Health Agency of Canada did, however, announce yesterday that pregnant women, health workers, residents of remote area and adults with chronic conditions will be given "priority" access to a vaccine when it becomes available.
Given that a vaccine isn't available, Armstrong says, it's important that Tamiflu be "prepositioned" and readily available to those infected with the virus.:tiphat:http://www.chtv.com/ch/cheknews/story.html?id=2004114

 

[B.C.]

Re: Swine flu hits Vancouver Island Aboriginal communities

BREAKING NEWS: H1N1 death at Victoria hospital

Text
By Keith Vass - Saanich News

Published: September 17, 2009 10:00 AM
Updated: September 17, 2009 10:37 AM

A Victoria General Hospital patient has died from the H1N1 influenza virus.

The Vancouver Island Health Authority confirmed the death in a press release this morning, but did not say when the patient passed away. VIHA did not provide any details about the identity of the patient.

"First and foremost, on behalf of the Vancouver Island Health Authority, I want to extend our deepest sympathies to the family and friends of this patient,? said VIHA?s Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Richard Stanwick.

?The patient was admitted to Victoria General Hospital on Sept. 5, 2009 with severe respiratory illness. Subsequent tests from the BC Centre for Disease Control confirmed H1N1.?

VIHA said the patient was from a high-risk group and had underlying health conditions, leaving him or her more vulnerable to severe illness from the virus, also known as human swine flu.

It said education and protective supplies are being provided to the affected community and relevant schools, but did not identify them.

The health authority has called a press conference later today to discuss the case as well as a report in the Canadian Medical Association Journal describing an outbreak of pandemic H1N1 in Ahousat.

http://www.bclocalnews.com/breaking_news/59640582.html

 

[Treyfish]

Re: Swine flu hits Vancouver Island Aboriginal communities

CMAJ report on swine flu outbreak inflammatory:B.C. health officer



Unnecessary alarm



By Linda Nguyen, Canwest News Service
September 17, 2009 5:22

A B.C. health official on Thursday slammed an ?inflammatory? article published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal that reported a major outbreak of H1N1 flu near Vancouver Island.
?I need to express my disappointment in that publication,? said Dr. Charmaine Enns, a medical health officer with the Vancouver Island Health Authority. ?I actually found that reporting not only irresponsible, but inflammatory. There was no securing the facts before that was printed, so I find that really unfortunate.?
The Journal had reported that a major outbreak of H1N1 flu had occurred in the rural First Nations community of Ahousat, just off western Vancouver Island.
Enns said the article did not report anything new, because health officials had known for weeks about H1N1 cases in remote First Nations communities.
?We have been very transparent,? she said. ?There is no story there.?
Instead, the CMAJ has exaggerated the situation, Enns said.
?That increase (in) the level of alarm and anxiety ? that is completely unfounded,? said Enns.
Enns said the remote community which she serves, about 200 kilometres northwest of Victoria, is no different than any region in Canada.
She estimated that, out of a population of 800 to 1,000 residents, Ahousat may have seen 100 people affected by H1N1 since it was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization last spring. Only six of those cases were lab-confirmed, and no related deaths have been reported there.

Enns said the number of cases ?decreased significantly,? and health officials were unaware of anyone currently ill with H1N1.:magnify: Nevertheless, doctors in Ahousat have been instructed to no longer swab the general population for the virus.
Meanwhile, it was reported Thursday that Vancouver Island had its first H1N1-related death Wednesday when a First Nations woman from Beecher Bay reserve, near Victoria, died in hospital.
Dr. Richard Stanwick, the island?s chief medical health officer, said the woman had belonged to a high-risk group and had ?pre-existing medical conditions.?
Two children ? one from northern Vancouver Island and the other from Beecher Bay ? also remain hospitalized with H1N1 symptoms. The second is currently in intensive care.
Stanwick urged everyone who may be considered at risk of catching the virus to contact their family doctors and to make preparations to get Tamiflu treatment. Those at risk include women who are pregnant, and anyone with a chronic illness, asthma, diabetes, or obstructed lungs.
He said health officials were not concerned about the availability of Tamiflu, but were working on how to readily make it available to those in need within the 12-hour effectiveness period.
There have been six H1N1-related deaths in British Columbia since the first patient displayed symptoms after returning home from Mexico last April.
Ahousat is one of the main settlements of the Ahousaht First Nations led by hereditary chief Shawn Atleo, who was recently elected national chief of the Assembly of First Nations.:tiphat:http://www.canada.com/health/CMAJ+r...nflammatory+health+officer/2004045/story.html

 

[FluPhobic]

Re: Swine flu hits Vancouver Island Aboriginal communities

http://news.ca.msn.com/top-stories/cbc-article.aspx?cp-documentid=21790769

Pandemic flu report overblown: health authority



The Vancouver Island Health Authority is blasting the Canadian Medical Association Journal over a website report published on Thursday that said a group of small communities on Vancouver Island's West Coast are in the midst of Canada's first pandemic outbreak of the fall flu season.

Leaders in Ahousat, located on an island north of Tofino off the west coast of Vancouver Island, said around 100 people in the community have been hit with the swine flu virus in recent weeks. Residents of Tofino have also reported a large number of cases in their community.

But VIHA medical health officer Dr. Charmaine Enns said that while there were a number of mild cases of H1N1 in the region, none needed hospitalization and 95 per cent of the cases didn't even require a visit to the doctor.

Enns said the CMAJ's article was not only irresponsible but also inflammatory, a charge to which the publication has yet to respond.

So far this year, six people in B.C. have died after contracting the swine flu, but all had other health conditions, according to health officials. Slightly more than 50 people have been hospitalized.

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[Pathfinder]

Re: Swine flu hits Vancouver Island Aboriginal communities

Report of B.C. flu cases 'irresponsible'

September 18, 2009
Petti Fong

WESTERN CANADA BUREAU

VANCOUVER?A Canadian Medical Association Journal report about cases of swine flu in Vancouver Island aboriginal communities is "irresponsible" and "inflammatory," a health official said yesterday.

The medical journal reported online yesterday that the remote First Nations communities are experiencing the first pandemic outbreak of H1N1 in Canada's fall flu season.

The medical director for aboriginal health in the Vancouver Island Health Authority said characterizing the cases as an outbreak is inaccurate.

"I actually found that reporting to be not only irresponsible, but inflammatory," said Dr. Charmaine Enns.

"We've had it circulating since the spring," said Enns.

"This is not a rare spotted duck. The duck has been here since spring."

CMAJ editor-in-chief Dr. Paul H?bert said health officials cannot deny that what is happening in the communities of northern Vancouver Island is an outbreak.

"There's been an increase in the number of cases. There hasn't been an upswing in the number of cases elsewhere except on the island," said H?bert, a critical care doctor.

H?bert said he wonders why the CMAJ had to hear about the increase in cases through sources rather than from authorities.

"Ideally we should have been hearing about low-level cases, and there's no need to be alarmed, but this is hitting multiple communities, he said.

The reported outbreak on the west coast of Vancouver Island is in a cluster of aboriginal communities accessible by only air or boat. They include Ahousat, the home community of Assembly of First Nations chief Shawn Atleo.

A doctor in the nearby village was quoted in the article as saying he has treated "dozens" infected with the virus and all the samples he has sent showed the virus is H1N1.

With a vaccine still at least six weeks away, the doctor said he's been treating the outbreak with Tamiflu, according to the article.

The report said most of the cases were mild, and only two patients were hospitalized. All have been treated and are recovering.

At the same time, health officials announced the death of a woman from a First Nations band near Victoria, marking the first swine flu-related death in B.C. in weeks.

The woman, in her 50s, who had underlying health conditions, was from Beecher Bay. She was hospitalized Sept. 12 and died Wednesday.

A child from the same community was also hospitalized while a third child in a different community is in intensive care.

Canada's chief public health officer, Dr. David Butler-Jones, said clusters of H1N1 such as the one on western Vancouver Island occurred throughout the summer.

"It never totally went away," Butler-Jones said of H1N1. "We are seeing clusters. We will continue to see clusters."

Dr. Perry Kendall, the provincial health officer, noted there have only been six laboratory confirmed cases of H1N1 in the communities and said he would not characterize them as a "pandemic outbreak," as the CMAJ article called it.

In Winnipeg following a meeting with provincial health ministers, federal Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq said production of the vaccine is still on track.

"We are targeting the first week of November to get that out to provinces and territories," she said.

Aglukkaq added the federal government is willing to consider extra funding to help provinces deal with any severe H1N1 flu pandemic, although she stopped short of committing to a specific figure.

The provinces have been seeking reassurance that they won't be left footing the bill in the event of a severe outbreak.


http://www.healthzone.ca/health/new...697581--report-of-b-c-flu-cases-irresponsible