Canada is dealing with a challenging flu season that has put serious pressure on hospitals across the country.
Health experts say the spike likely comes down to a few things – the flu shot not being a perfect match for the strains going around, fewer people getting vaccinated, and the version of the virus spreading this year being especially severe.
In Alberta, official figures show that 255 people have died from the flu so far this season, marking the province’s most severe influenza season in recent years.
The number continues an upward trend. Alberta recorded 236 flu-related deaths last year and the year before that saw 171 deaths.
Experts say the impact of this year’s outbreak has been obvious inside hospitals across Canada.
Dr. Lynora Saxinger, an infectious disease specialist, said she has spent much of the past few months on call, treating a steady flow of patients with influenza, some of whom were critically ill and fighting for their lives.
The surge in cases has added major strain to emergency departments, with many areas reporting long wait times.
Infectious disease expert Dr. Isaac Bogoch said that the dominant strain this year is H3N2, which is known to cause more severe symptoms compared to other variants.
He explained that H3N2 infections typically hit harder than cases caused by H1N1.
Dr. Don Vinh, a medical microbiologist at McGill University, said flu activity has been widespread across Canada, though national numbers are slowly started to come down.
However, he pointed out that Alberta appears to be trailing behind other provinces, with infection rates still higher than much of the country.
Meanwhile, Sharif Haji, who serves as the Alberta NDP’s shadow minister for primary and preventative health services, said the government needs to do a better job communicating with the public and make it simpler for people to get vaccinated.
He said the government needs to step up, improve how it shares health information, and roll out vaccines more effectively.
