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About FluWatch
FluWatch is Canada's national surveillance system that monitors the spread of flu and flu-like illnesses on an on-going basis. FluWatch reports, posted every Friday, contain specific information for health professionals on flu viruses circulating in Canada.
The FluWatch program consists of a network of labs, hospitals, doctor's offices and provincial and territorial ministries of health. Program objectives include to:
- Detect flu outbreaks across the country as early as possible
- Provide timely up-to-date information on flu activity in Canada and abroad to health professionals [and interested Canadians]
- Monitor circulating strains of the flu virus (like H1N1) and assess their sensitivity to antiviral medications, [such as Tamiflu and Relenza]. Antivirals, when used by doctors to treat flu, can help reduce the severity of the illness and the recovery time for a patient
- Provide information that the World Health Organization can use to make its recommendations on the best vaccine to use for seasonal flu shots.
The Summary Box below covers the main findings from the current week's FluWatch posting and contains links to specific information, graphs and charts contained in the publication.
Summary of FluWatch Findings for the Week ending November 13, 2010
- During week 45, the overall influenza activity in Canada has slightly increased. However, most of the influenza surveillance regions have reported no activity.
- The proportion of positive influenza specimens reported during week 45 has increased with 42 specimens out of 1,951 (2.15%) testing positive. Of the 42 positive tests, 15 specimens were reported as influenza A/H3N2 (ON & QC), 23 as unsubtyped influenza A (ON & QC) and four as influenza B (BC, ON & QC).
- Since the beginning of the season, A/H3N2 has been the predominant strain circulating in Canada representing 97% of the subtyped positive influenza specimens. Seasonal influenza A/H3N2 viruses also continued to be the predominant circulating strain of influenza viruses worldwide, however, in many countries there has been co-circulation of seasonal influenza B viruses and to a lesser extent, pandemic H1N1 2009.
- The Public Health Agency of Canada published an article on November 8, 2010 in the Canadian Medical Association Journal on the Incidence of hospital admissions and severe outcomes during the first and second waves of pandemic (H1N1) 2009. Full article at:
http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/rapidpdf/cmaj.100746v2.
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