Earlier flu season than normal has started to hit Canadian hospitals
Canadians have been getting sick enough with seasonal flu to land in hospital, say doctors with suggestions on who is most at risk and what it could mean for festive gatherings
We’re starting to now see the effect of flu on certain populations, particularly very young children and very older people, in making them sick enough that they need to come into hospital,
said Dr. Gerald Evans, chair of the division of infectious diseases at Queen’s University and Kingston Health Sciences Centre
During the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic, air travel declined. It’s one of the suspected reasons that influenza all but disappeared, Evans said
Flu viruses need human hosts travelling between the southern and northern hemispheres to gain a foothold during winter on both ends of the planet, according to influenza experts
For about 100 years, doctors have known that the youngest and oldest are most at risk for serious flu. Why hasn’t been nailed down, but there are a few possible reasons — including what strains were circulating when you were first exposed
Generational effects explored
Canadian (new window) and international research on humans as well as in animal models suggest that the first strain of flu virus you’re infected with tends to prime (new window) or shape the immune system. The result is that our immune system responds best to the original type of flu infection it faced
That’s why we believe that older people who are mostly primed with H1N1 don’t do very well during an H3N2 year like we’re having this year,
Evans said
The 2009 H1N1 pandemic also continues to affect how younger ones do with flu
Those aged 13 and under were probably primed to H1N1 after 2009, just as their grandparents were in their childhoods, Evans said
If so, today’s kids could be more vulnerable to severe disease from flu now than their parents’ generation who first encountered an H3N2 strain
Evans added it’s also thought that older people may have more severe outcomes from flu because of underlying problems such as heart disease, lung disease or treatments for cancer
Youngest hadn’t been exposed
Another reason why young children are being hit hard by flu and RSV this year: recent pandemic public health measures meant those under two haven’t seen flu at all and preschoolers haven’t experienced it or another respiratory virus known as respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, for a couple seasons
The boost of immunity they get from having had some prior exposures in the year before are missing and so they’re tending to get infected more,
Evans said
Dr. Upton Allen, chief of infectious diseases at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, pointed to a few other possibilities
One is the strain of flu virus that’s mainly circulating. It’s officially called Influenza A H3N2, which Allen said might be associated with more severe disease
Also, our immune system is considered weakest at the extremes of life
The overwhelming majority of kids who get the flu will get it mild, but some people can get it severe,
Allen said
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If a child is breathing very quickly, having trouble breathing, weak, doesn’t wake up or respond then those might indicate a more severe boutCall 911 or go to the nearest emergency department,
Allen said
The Public Health Agency of Canada reports fewer than five influenza-associated deaths (new window) among those aged 16 and younger for the week ending Nov. 19
Each year the number of deaths generally are in single digits,
for that age group in Canada, Allen said
Doctor’s holiday flu forecast
Marie Tarrant, a professor in the nursing school at the University of British Columbia Okanagan, is concerned about the uptick in hospitalizations from flu for patients and health-care systems
The other side of that is just the burden that is putting on a healthcare system that has been maximally strained for the last 2 ½ years
People with flu, RSV and other infections have a compounding effect
of burdening hospitals, she said. Like Canada’s National Advisory Committee on Immunization, Tarrant recommends (new window)those aged six months and older who are eligible get a flu shot
Flu vaccines prevent about 40 to 60 per cent of serious illness and hospitalization,
she saidThey do work
Evans has similar advice
Get your flu shot,
he saidIt’s not going to be for everybody, but it’s going to prevent a lot of people getting infected and that’s going to help of course alleviate the stresses that we’re seeing in trying to provide care to everybody
It’s also not too late to get a flu shot, clinicians say
Plus, flu season started earlier (new window) than it typically does this year, which could (eventually) offer a yuletide bright spot. Evans said seasonal flu usually disappears after a period of about six weeks. Canada is now about two weeks into a surge
By the time the holidays come around, we should be seeing a waning down of numbers of influenza infections, if it follows the pattern that we have seen now literally for decades
The good newsAs long as you’re feeling OK and you don’t have signs and symptoms of a cold, I think gathering together is fine
CBC News
