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Flu cases at city schools continue to climb
Flu cases at city schools continue to climb
By Joanne Laucius, with files from Sharon Kirkey, The Ottawa Citizen; with files from Canwest News ServiceJune 10, 2009
With the world teetering on the edge of the declaration of a flu pandemic, the city's public health unit now says 37 schools have reported suspected cases of H1N1, up from 29 schools last Thursday.
As well, 107 people had tested positive for H1N1, almost double the 56 people who tested positive as of last Thursday. About half were under the age of 16.
The World Health Organization said Tuesday that the world was getting "very, very close" to a swine flu pandemic. Under WHO guidelines, a key criteria for declaring a pandemic is community spread outside the first region in which the disease was reported.
In this case, that is outside the Americas. So far, 1,211 cases have been recorded, for example, in Australia. In all, 26,563 infections including 140 deaths have been reported from 73 countries.
"One of the critical issues is that we do not want people to panic if they hear that we are in a pandemic situation," Feiji Fukuda, WHO's acting assistant director-general, said on Tuesday.
As of Monday, a total of 2,446 laboratory-confirmed cases of H1N1 flu virus have been reported in all provinces and territories in Canada except Newfoundland.
The Ottawa Public Health Unit says officials are now unable, in some cases, to trace the spread of the virus from one person to another, a development that experts say is a sign of an impending pandemic.
"We are seeing cases in Ottawa with no specific link to another person. It has been happening in Ontario. That is what we call community spread," Sherry Nigro, the manager responsible for pandemic planning at Ottawa Public Health, said last week. "We know that it is fairly transmittable and we know that we are not going to prevent it so what we have to do is minimize it."
The growth in the number of cases, and concerns about the spread of the illness in the region, has prompted CHEO to issue a set of guidelines for parents rattled by reports of H1N1 in schools and who are contemplating a trip to the emergency room.
CHEO's emergency room has been busier-than-expected with an increased number of patients with flu-like illness, said Dr. Ken Farion, associate medical director of CHEO's emergency department.
Just because a child has flu-like symptoms, however, doesn't mean they have H1N1. Usually the flu season has tapered off by now, but this year there are a number of flu strains making the rounds, said Farion.
"If you're sick, stay at home to prevent the spread of all infections -- not just this one," he said.
"Most of what we're seeing is milder disease. They have a fever and they have a cough, but they're still able to get around and eat and drink. If this is the case, they should stay at home."
Farion said parents should be concerned if their child has difficulty breathing, there are concerns that the child has become dehydrated because of lack of fluids, if the child is extremely listless or if there is an underlying health condition such as immune system weakness or a respiratory condition.
Parents should also be concerned if a child with mild to moderate symptoms appears to get better, then gets worse. The flu may have caused a weakening of the immune system, leading to a secondary infection such as bacterial pneumonia.
Many parents are bringing their child to the emergency room to seek testing, but this is usually only done if the child has an underlying condition.
"Showing up doesn't mean you're going to get tested," said Farion
"Because we're not testing the vast majority of patients, whether they have Flu 1 or Flu 2 isn't really relevant. The focus should be on symptom management."
The vast majority of CHEO patients with flu-like symptoms are being discharged to home with the instructions that they may have H1N1 or another flu. CHEO has only admitted about one or two flu patients a day, and these are often children with underlying medical conditions.
Farion said most healthy children with the flu are ill for four or five days and are significantly improved within a week. For infants and toddlers and children with underlying conditions, it may take longer to recover.
Children and families who arrive at the CHEO emergency department are screened for febrile respiratory illness. Those who have symptoms will be directed to a separate isolation area to see a nurse wearing full protective equipment. These extra measures mean it takes staff longer to see patients, and the sickest patients will be seen first.
Farion advises parents who decide to visit the emergency room to ensure healthy siblings stay at home.
"We don't need the volume and congestion," he said.
Meanwhile, the emergency room at the Queensway-Carleton Hospital has had a "record week" -- but only a tiny proportion of the patients have been ill with the flu and the hospital is still puzzling over what caused the bump in numbers, said chief of emergency Dr. John Earle.
One day last week, for example, the emergency department logged 230 visits when a normal flow would be 185 patients.
"It's usually what you would see on July 1 or Boxing Day," he said.
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen
Flu cases at city schools continue to climb
By Joanne Laucius, with files from Sharon Kirkey, The Ottawa Citizen; with files from Canwest News ServiceJune 10, 2009
With the world teetering on the edge of the declaration of a flu pandemic, the city's public health unit now says 37 schools have reported suspected cases of H1N1, up from 29 schools last Thursday.
As well, 107 people had tested positive for H1N1, almost double the 56 people who tested positive as of last Thursday. About half were under the age of 16.
The World Health Organization said Tuesday that the world was getting "very, very close" to a swine flu pandemic. Under WHO guidelines, a key criteria for declaring a pandemic is community spread outside the first region in which the disease was reported.
In this case, that is outside the Americas. So far, 1,211 cases have been recorded, for example, in Australia. In all, 26,563 infections including 140 deaths have been reported from 73 countries.
"One of the critical issues is that we do not want people to panic if they hear that we are in a pandemic situation," Feiji Fukuda, WHO's acting assistant director-general, said on Tuesday.
As of Monday, a total of 2,446 laboratory-confirmed cases of H1N1 flu virus have been reported in all provinces and territories in Canada except Newfoundland.
The Ottawa Public Health Unit says officials are now unable, in some cases, to trace the spread of the virus from one person to another, a development that experts say is a sign of an impending pandemic.
"We are seeing cases in Ottawa with no specific link to another person. It has been happening in Ontario. That is what we call community spread," Sherry Nigro, the manager responsible for pandemic planning at Ottawa Public Health, said last week. "We know that it is fairly transmittable and we know that we are not going to prevent it so what we have to do is minimize it."
The growth in the number of cases, and concerns about the spread of the illness in the region, has prompted CHEO to issue a set of guidelines for parents rattled by reports of H1N1 in schools and who are contemplating a trip to the emergency room.
CHEO's emergency room has been busier-than-expected with an increased number of patients with flu-like illness, said Dr. Ken Farion, associate medical director of CHEO's emergency department.
Just because a child has flu-like symptoms, however, doesn't mean they have H1N1. Usually the flu season has tapered off by now, but this year there are a number of flu strains making the rounds, said Farion.
"If you're sick, stay at home to prevent the spread of all infections -- not just this one," he said.
"Most of what we're seeing is milder disease. They have a fever and they have a cough, but they're still able to get around and eat and drink. If this is the case, they should stay at home."
Farion said parents should be concerned if their child has difficulty breathing, there are concerns that the child has become dehydrated because of lack of fluids, if the child is extremely listless or if there is an underlying health condition such as immune system weakness or a respiratory condition.
Parents should also be concerned if a child with mild to moderate symptoms appears to get better, then gets worse. The flu may have caused a weakening of the immune system, leading to a secondary infection such as bacterial pneumonia.
Many parents are bringing their child to the emergency room to seek testing, but this is usually only done if the child has an underlying condition.
"Showing up doesn't mean you're going to get tested," said Farion
"Because we're not testing the vast majority of patients, whether they have Flu 1 or Flu 2 isn't really relevant. The focus should be on symptom management."
The vast majority of CHEO patients with flu-like symptoms are being discharged to home with the instructions that they may have H1N1 or another flu. CHEO has only admitted about one or two flu patients a day, and these are often children with underlying medical conditions.
Farion said most healthy children with the flu are ill for four or five days and are significantly improved within a week. For infants and toddlers and children with underlying conditions, it may take longer to recover.
Children and families who arrive at the CHEO emergency department are screened for febrile respiratory illness. Those who have symptoms will be directed to a separate isolation area to see a nurse wearing full protective equipment. These extra measures mean it takes staff longer to see patients, and the sickest patients will be seen first.
Farion advises parents who decide to visit the emergency room to ensure healthy siblings stay at home.
"We don't need the volume and congestion," he said.
Meanwhile, the emergency room at the Queensway-Carleton Hospital has had a "record week" -- but only a tiny proportion of the patients have been ill with the flu and the hospital is still puzzling over what caused the bump in numbers, said chief of emergency Dr. John Earle.
One day last week, for example, the emergency department logged 230 visits when a normal flow would be 185 patients.
"It's usually what you would see on July 1 or Boxing Day," he said.
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen
