Flu season: Why are so many Canadian children falling sick? – National | 24CA News

The flu has returned with a vengeance after being absent for a few years in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s hitting youngsters particularly exhausting. Here’s what docs say is going on, and why.

Based on predictions from the World Health Organization on what strains would seem, this 12 months’s flu vaccine protects in opposition to two Influenza A strains – H3N2 and H1N1 – and two Influenza B strains that are referred to as B/Victoria lineage and B/Yamagata lineage.

Right now, H3N2 is inflicting the overwhelming majority of flu circumstances in Canada. It’s potential that the opposite strains may begin circulating extra extensively and peak later within the flu season, docs say.

Over the final decade, Influenza B strains have tended to reach later within the season, mentioned Dr. Allison McGeer, an infectious ailments specialist and microbiologist at Sinai Health Systems in Toronto.

H3N2 may cause extra extreme sickness than different strains, particularly amongst seniors who’re extra weak, partly as a result of it mutates sooner so folks don’t have as a lot acquired immunity safety, mentioned McGeer.

That’s as a result of folks seem to build up a point of safety all through their lives to H1N1 and Influenza B strains, however not for H3N2.

“(For) kids who haven’t really been exposed to influenza before to any significant degree, there’s not a lot of difference in severity between H1N1, H3N2 and B (strains),” McGeer mentioned.

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The flu season began early this 12 months, docs say, which suggests youngsters began getting sick earlier. And COVID-19 security measures, like masking, additionally saved different viruses just like the flu at bay the earlier two chilly and flu seasons.

“We’re now seeing all our old viral foes coming back to play after being on hiatus for a couple of years,” mentioned Dr. Justin Penner, pediatric infectious ailments specialist on the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario and member of the Canadian Paediatric Society’s infectious ailments and immunization committee.

Kids beneath 5 years outdated are most susceptible to getting critically sick with flu, docs say. And due to the COVID-19 pandemic precautions, the immune programs of many youngsters beneath three haven’t beforehand are available contact with the virus.

“Kids between, you know, zero to three have about a 40 per cent chance of acquiring influenza in any given year,” McGeer mentioned.

“We’ve now got like two and a half cohorts of kids who haven’t been exposed to influenza at all. So they’re all getting sick at the same time.”

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In the overwhelming majority of circumstances, flu could be handled at house, docs say.

But like many sicknesses, some circumstances find yourself being extra critical, McGeer mentioned.

“There’s an entire range (of reasons) from just severity of the influenza illness itself to complications,” she mentioned.

Some flu sufferers would possibly get pneumonia, for instance, or a bacterial an infection on prime of the virus.

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Myocarditis and encephalitis are different potential issues of the flu.

People who’re immunocompromised may also be at larger threat of extreme sickness.

“Influenza can also trigger exacerbations of underlying illness,” McGeer mentioned, together with coronary heart illness and stroke.

Seniors are additionally extra vulnerable to being hospitalized with the flu, however a better threat within the older age demographic seems to be offset this 12 months by public well being measures reminiscent of continued masking in long-term care properties, she mentioned.

The Public Health Agency of Canada says it needs to realize an 80 per cent flu vaccination charge by 2025, however the uptake falls far wanting that every 12 months.

The influenza vaccine has a “bad reputation” as a result of it’s efficient however not good, mentioned Dr. James Kellner, a pediatric infectious illness specialist and epidemiologist on the University of Calgary.

Based on knowledge from Australia, which already had its flu season, this 12 months’s vaccine seems to be about 50 per cent efficient in lowering extreme sickness from the flu, he mentioned.

That’s a distinction that individuals are inclined to undervalue, Kellner mentioned.

“Looking at 50 per cent prevention of severe outcomes could certainly have saved a lot of misery across the country (this year).”

The incontrovertible fact that flu vaccinations are wanted yearly as an alternative of getting a one-time shot additionally places some folks off, he mentioned.

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Plus, “there’s so much fatigue” for public well being measures from COVID-19, Kellner mentioned.

“COVID vaccine initial uptake was so successful for a variety of reasons, but a big part of it was that there was this sense of public spirit around it in the collective willingness and desire to do the right thing,” he mentioned.

“It seems that we’ve lost that quite a bit right now.”

Many folks additionally don’t take the flu critically sufficient or understand how extreme it may be, particularly for younger youngsters, Kellner mentioned.

“There’s a sense that flu vaccine is not that important and so it’s missed out on a lot.”

Some folks additionally mistakenly assume they obtained the flu although they have been vaccinated, mentioned Penner of the Canadian Paediatric Society.

“People’s perception of what influenza or the flu is, you know, could be a wide variety of different viruses,” he mentioned.

Plus, if folks do get the flu although they’ve been immunized, the vaccine could make the sickness much less extreme, Penner mentioned.

The best methods to protect in opposition to the flu, consultants say, are:

— Get the flu vaccine. Doctors say it’s not too late.

— Stay house should you really feel unwell

— Masking

— Frequent handwashing