Re: Alberta confirms two swine flu cases
Re: Alberta confirms two swine flu cases
Two cases of swine flu confirmed in Alberta
Updated Tue. Apr. 28 2009 2:02 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
Swine flu has officially arrived in Alberta. Alberta's chief medical officer confirms the province has two mild cases of the new flu: one in Calgary and the other in the northern part of the province.
Dr. Andre Corriveau says both patients were men who contracted the virus during recent travel to Mexico. Neither man's illness was severe enough that he had to be hospitalized.
"These cases show that our monitoring and surveillance system is working as it should," Corriveau said in a news release. "It was only a matter of time until cases of human swine influenza would show up in Alberta."
The new illnesses bring the total number of cases in Canada to eight, including two in B.C. and four at King's Edgehill School in Windsor, Nova Scotia.
King's Edgehill Headmaster Joseph Seagram told Canada AM on Tuesday that three of the four students have now been given a clean bill of health. The fourth is "recovering nicely and we expect he will be released today."
He said life is returning to normal after a tense few days at the school. "The flu is running its course and students are beginning to be symptom-free. We ran classes yesterday and my hope is that attendance will pick up as the week progresses."
So far, only Mexico has seen severe disease related to the virus, but Canada's chief public officer of health David Butler-Jones said that could change.
"We will likely see more cases. We will likely see more severe illnesses. And we will, likely -- unfortunately -- see some deaths, as well," he said.
Meanwhile, the Public Health Agency of Canada is advising against all non-essential travel to Mexico, due to the swine flu outbreak there that has caused the deaths of 152 people.
"As of April 27, 2009, travellers from Canada are recommended to postpone elective or non-essential travel to Mexico until further notice," stated the advisory, issued Monday afternoon.
The U.S., France, Britain and Germany are also warning against unnecessary travel to Mexico.
Ottawa recommends that those who must travel to Mexico do the following to minimize risk:
Wash hands frequently with soap under warm running water.
If water isn't available, use an alcohol-based gel hand-sanitizer.
Cover your mouth and nose when you sneeze, and wash your hands afterwards.
Avoid contact with people who appear to have respiratory illness.
Monitor Canada's and Mexico's public health agency websites.
Get vaccinated against seasonal flu.
Dr. Donald Low, an infection disease specialist at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Toronto, says he doesn't believe there are any parts of Mexico that are swine flu virus-free.
"We really have to appreciate now that this has spread throughout all of Mexico. We're hearing about cases in all four corners of Mexico. We're hearing about people coming back from all over Mexico with this disease," he told CTV Newsnet.
"So what it means is there are probably hundreds of thousands of people who have been infected with this and we're only seeing the tip of the iceberg by identifying only the very sick. That's why it looks like a very severe influenza in Mexico. But in actual fact, it may have a death rate that's similar to seasonal influenza."
The World Health Organization is monitoring the global infection rate. On Monday, they raised the pandemic alert level from a Phase 3 to Phase 4 level, marking the increasing severity of the outbreak. The Phase 4 classification -- the first since 1999 --means human-to-human transmission is taking place.
The World Health Organization says it may bump the pandemic alert to Phase 5 if it finds evidence the swine flu viruses is passing beyond second generation spread. Most cases to date outside of Mexico are in people who became infected in Mexico and travelled home.
If the WHO sees travellers infecting family members, who infect work colleagues and so on, that would signal that the swine flu virus is well adapted to human spread and poses an even greater pandemic threat.
WHO spokesperson Paul Garwood said the organization is respecting individual countries' handling of the outbreak and said travellers should be cautious and follow their government's travel recommendation.
"We feel now that the virus has been found in several countries it's difficult to contain, so we need to focus on mitigation efforts," Garwood told CTV's Canada AM on Tuesday.
Dr. Low says the scope and severity of the virus will become clearer in coming days.
"The telltale sign over the next few days is what happens in the community. Are we going to start to see spread in centres outside of Mexico? If that happens, then I think we're in for a pandemic," he said. "Right now, we're just carrying out the surveillance we need to identify that if it happens and when it happens."
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNe...da_Mex_warning_090428/20090428?hub=TopStories
