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Flu hits all provinces with Nfld. case
Health officials in Quebec announced two new deaths from H1N1 in the province over the weekend, bringing the Canadian death toll to six
ANDR? PICARD
From Monday's Globe and Mail, Monday, Jun. 15, 2009 06:45AM EDT
PUBLIC HEALTH REPORTER
The global influenza pandemic marched on through the weekend with reports of the first death outside of the Americas, two more deaths in Quebec and the arrival of the virus in Newfoundland and Labrador, the latest - and last - province or territory to report a confirmed case of influenza A/H1N1.
Public health officials will announce today the pandemic has travelled coast-to-coast-to-coast just seven weeks after the first case was reported.
"As other Canadian jurisdictions have recorded cases of H1N1 influenza, we anticipated it would be only a matter of time before Newfoundland and Labrador recorded its first case," Faith Stratton, the province's chief medical officer of health, said in a statement.
"We should expect to see other cases over the summer months and into the fall flu season," she said, reinforcing the message that the presence of H1N1 should be considered the new normal.
Dr. Stratton said the public should not be "overly concerned" as most cases are mild.
Officials would only say that a man was treated at Grand Falls-Windsor hospital in central Newfoundland and he has since recovered.
Meanwhile, health officials in Quebec announced yesterday that there had been two new deaths from H1N1 flu in the province over the weekend, bringing the Canadian death toll to six.
Alain Poirier, Quebec's director of public health, said a woman in her 50s and a man in his 40s had died of H1N1.
He noted that both suffered from chronic health conditions that made them vulnerable to the virus.
Data from the United States show that virtually all H1N1 deaths have occurred in middle-aged people with chronic health conditions such as diabetes, asthma and chronic pulmonary obstructive disease.
Yesterday also marked another grim milestone, with the first reported H1N1 death outside of the Americas. The Scottish health department said in a statement that a patient had died, but provided no further details except to say he suffered from an underlying health condition.
As of Friday, there had been 145 swine flu deaths reported worldwide. Until the weekend, fatalities had occurred only in eight countries of the Americas: Mexico, the United States, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic and Guatemala.
The latest published data show a total of 3,515 cases of H1N1 influenza across Canada. Worldwide, the number of cases stood at 29,669 as of Friday night.
Both the Public Health Agency of Canada and the World Health Organization will release up-to-date numbers later today and they will be significantly higher.
"There is no evidence that the numbers are going down," Dr. Poirier said. "We haven't yet reached the peak of this epidemic."
In fact, Canada is the country where H1N1 continues to spread most rapidly in the world, followed by Australia and Argentina.
And travellers from Canada are bringing the virus elsewhere. On the weekend, Morocco became the latest country to report H1N1. Both cases in that country were among travellers on a flight from Montreal to Casablanca on June 10.
On Thursday, the WHO declared a phase six pandemic alert (on a scale of six), meaning the world was officially in the midst of a global pandemic of influenza for the first time in four decades.
Health officials stressed, however, that phase six is a reflection of the geographic spread of the virus, not its severity.
But Canadians and international infectious disease experts have stressed that influenza is unpredictable and the virus could grow more lethal over time.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/flu-hits-all-provinces-as-nfld-reports-its-first-case/article1181943/
Health officials in Quebec announced two new deaths from H1N1 in the province over the weekend, bringing the Canadian death toll to six
ANDR? PICARD
From Monday's Globe and Mail, Monday, Jun. 15, 2009 06:45AM EDT
PUBLIC HEALTH REPORTER
The global influenza pandemic marched on through the weekend with reports of the first death outside of the Americas, two more deaths in Quebec and the arrival of the virus in Newfoundland and Labrador, the latest - and last - province or territory to report a confirmed case of influenza A/H1N1.
Public health officials will announce today the pandemic has travelled coast-to-coast-to-coast just seven weeks after the first case was reported.
"As other Canadian jurisdictions have recorded cases of H1N1 influenza, we anticipated it would be only a matter of time before Newfoundland and Labrador recorded its first case," Faith Stratton, the province's chief medical officer of health, said in a statement.
"We should expect to see other cases over the summer months and into the fall flu season," she said, reinforcing the message that the presence of H1N1 should be considered the new normal.
Dr. Stratton said the public should not be "overly concerned" as most cases are mild.
Officials would only say that a man was treated at Grand Falls-Windsor hospital in central Newfoundland and he has since recovered.
Meanwhile, health officials in Quebec announced yesterday that there had been two new deaths from H1N1 flu in the province over the weekend, bringing the Canadian death toll to six.
Alain Poirier, Quebec's director of public health, said a woman in her 50s and a man in his 40s had died of H1N1.
He noted that both suffered from chronic health conditions that made them vulnerable to the virus.
Data from the United States show that virtually all H1N1 deaths have occurred in middle-aged people with chronic health conditions such as diabetes, asthma and chronic pulmonary obstructive disease.
Yesterday also marked another grim milestone, with the first reported H1N1 death outside of the Americas. The Scottish health department said in a statement that a patient had died, but provided no further details except to say he suffered from an underlying health condition.
As of Friday, there had been 145 swine flu deaths reported worldwide. Until the weekend, fatalities had occurred only in eight countries of the Americas: Mexico, the United States, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic and Guatemala.
The latest published data show a total of 3,515 cases of H1N1 influenza across Canada. Worldwide, the number of cases stood at 29,669 as of Friday night.
Both the Public Health Agency of Canada and the World Health Organization will release up-to-date numbers later today and they will be significantly higher.
"There is no evidence that the numbers are going down," Dr. Poirier said. "We haven't yet reached the peak of this epidemic."
In fact, Canada is the country where H1N1 continues to spread most rapidly in the world, followed by Australia and Argentina.
And travellers from Canada are bringing the virus elsewhere. On the weekend, Morocco became the latest country to report H1N1. Both cases in that country were among travellers on a flight from Montreal to Casablanca on June 10.
On Thursday, the WHO declared a phase six pandemic alert (on a scale of six), meaning the world was officially in the midst of a global pandemic of influenza for the first time in four decades.
Health officials stressed, however, that phase six is a reflection of the geographic spread of the virus, not its severity.
But Canadians and international infectious disease experts have stressed that influenza is unpredictable and the virus could grow more lethal over time.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/flu-hits-all-provinces-as-nfld-reports-its-first-case/article1181943/