Flu activity in B.C. now eight times typical year's peak
If the flu has swept through your workplace, school or family, you're not alone.
New statistics show the influenza activity in B.C. is now eight times higher than it gets in a typical February, when seasonal flu cases normally peak.
Particularly startling is a graph released Tuesday by the B.C. Centre for Disease Control.
It illustrates the number of patients with flu-like illness being treated in B.C. based on Medical Services Plan billings filed by doctors.
The chart plots historic levels of flu activity, which typically peak each year in February at around 0.5 per cent of MSP billings and haven't climbed above two per cent in the past 10 years.
A black line that shows this year's flu billings started to climb fast in September and then went nearly vertical in mid-October.
Currently, nearly four per cent of all MSP billings are for flu-like illness – eight times the peak level in a typical year and twice as much as the highest level recorded at any time in the past decade.
The billings aren't the sole measuring stick of flu action, cautions BC-CDC influenza epidemiologist Travis Hottes.
But he said they do broadly convey the impact the H1N1 virus and other flu strains are having on British Columbians and the medical system in general.
"Billings for influenza virus have increased dramatically in the last few weeks," he said.
So much so, that the vertical scale of the graph had to be extended, he said, flattening down the historic peaks from past years.
"There has been a large increase in activity levels over the past few weeks," Hottes said.
"All of our activity indicators are showing sharp increases throughout the province. And the predominant virus that has been detected is the H1N1 virus."
So far 12 people in B.C. have died as a result of lab-confirmed H1N1 flu – all but one of them with underlying medical problems – and nearly 200 people have become severely ill, requiring hospitalization.
Three more people died over the past week, two of them in the Fraser Health region.
There have been about 3,600 lab-confirmed cases of H1N1 flu in B.C. although most mild or moderate cases are no longer formally tested.
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