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Doctors worried fewer Canadians are getting flu shot
Updated: Tue Jan. 04 2011 7:34:48 PM
<SCRIPT language=javascript type=text/javascript> var byString = ""; var sourceString = "CTV.ca News Staff"; if ((sourceString != "") && (byString != "")) { document.write(byString + ", "); } else { document.write(byString); }</SCRIPT>CTV.ca News Staff
With the annual flu season just getting underway in Canada, some experts are worried that many Canadians, perhaps jaded by last year's "swine flu" pandemic, are not getting their flu shots.
While it appears that Europe is still seeing a lot of last year's H1NI flu strain circulating, here in Canada, H1N1 is almost non-existent. The predominant strain here is one called H3N2.
...
In Toronto, public health officials say 20 per cent fewer people have received the annual flu shot at its clinics compared to 2008 and 2009. Dr. Irene Armstrong, the city's associate medical officer of health, says of the 515 confirmed cases of flu in the city, 300 are the H3N2 strain. So far, five deaths in Toronto have been linked to the flu.
With less vaccine protecting people, that means the possibility of more flu cases -- and the possibility of more deaths.
"Seasonal flu does a lot of damage, causes a lot of deaths every year and the more of us who get our flu shots, the better protected we are," McGeer says.
Full text:
http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/lo...on-canada-110104/20110104/?hub=TorontoNewHome
Updated: Tue Jan. 04 2011 7:34:48 PM
<SCRIPT language=javascript type=text/javascript> var byString = ""; var sourceString = "CTV.ca News Staff"; if ((sourceString != "") && (byString != "")) { document.write(byString + ", "); } else { document.write(byString); }</SCRIPT>CTV.ca News Staff
With the annual flu season just getting underway in Canada, some experts are worried that many Canadians, perhaps jaded by last year's "swine flu" pandemic, are not getting their flu shots.
While it appears that Europe is still seeing a lot of last year's H1NI flu strain circulating, here in Canada, H1N1 is almost non-existent. The predominant strain here is one called H3N2.
...
In Toronto, public health officials say 20 per cent fewer people have received the annual flu shot at its clinics compared to 2008 and 2009. Dr. Irene Armstrong, the city's associate medical officer of health, says of the 515 confirmed cases of flu in the city, 300 are the H3N2 strain. So far, five deaths in Toronto have been linked to the flu.
With less vaccine protecting people, that means the possibility of more flu cases -- and the possibility of more deaths.
"Seasonal flu does a lot of damage, causes a lot of deaths every year and the more of us who get our flu shots, the better protected we are," McGeer says.
Full text:
http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/lo...on-canada-110104/20110104/?hub=TorontoNewHome