By Chad Klassen

Interior Health observing more severe flu season for younger population

Jan 16, 2019 | 4:15 PM

KAMLOOPS — Interior Health officials are noticing what many other health care professionals are observing across the country, and that’s an outbreak of the dominant H1N1 strain of the flu virus that’s affecting the younger population. 

According to IHA, the Interior experienced the flu earlier than the rest of B.C., and that upward trend has continued throughout the season with the Interior and Northern Health authorities seeing the most cases.

“It’s not clear to us whether the arrival of the flu was a little bit early because we are closer to Alberta where there was initial activity in the country or whether it was some other factor. We’ll learn a lot more at the end of the season,” said Interior Health’s Medical Health Officer Dr. Trevor Corneil. 

Statistics from the Public Health Agency of Canada notes out of 861 labratory tests in B.C., there were 192 confirmed cases of H1N1 in the first week of 2019. More than a thousand H1N1 cases have been confirmed in the province during the entire flu season

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“We’re finding that cases are more severe in the younger age groups. That’s children and young adults,” noted Dr. Corneil. “Some non-elder adults and it’s having a less significant impact on the elderly.”

There have been nearly 18,000 confirmed cases across the country, mostly Influenza A that includes H1N1. Sixty-eight per cent of H1N1 cases have affected people under 45 years old. 

“For the most part, even those young people that are experiencing H1N1 illness will fully recover,” said Dr. Danuta Skowronski from the B.C. Centre for Disease Control. “But remember there’s always a proportion, especially those with underlying medical conditions that may have serious outcomes.”

Across Canada, there have been 540 pediatric hospitalizations among children 16 and under this flu season. Among those cases, 95 resulted in ICU admissions and there have been six deaths, all happening in children under 10. 

“It’s important to remember that every year people die primarily from influenza,” said Dr. Corneil. “It most commonly impacts the elderly. This year, those people who are experiencing fatalities in our country and in our province are a little bit younger than we normally see.”

However, Interior Health says we may be over the worst of the flu season that peaked over the holidays. Positive flu tests have decreased by 25 per cent, but health professionals say there are still a few more weeks ahead of flu activity.