"The peak was amongst the highest that we've had since 2009 and it was a really sharp upswing and then are fairly sharp drop as well."
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Despite an earlier-than-usual peak in Alberta’s influenza season, Albertans who have not yet gotten the jab are encouraged to get their flu shot.
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Dr. Lynora Saxinger, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Alberta, said the current flu season has been a “peculiar” one, with a very rapid and aggressive start.
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“The peak was amongst the highest that we’ve had since 2009 and it was a really sharp upswing and then a fairly sharp drop as well,” she said.
“Then, of course, the season was getting rolling pretty early on. Also in that time period of vaccination, usually there’s a little bit more lead time from having vaccines available to having the peak.”
Typically, flu cases peaks in late December but this season it reached the highest point in the third week of November. Last year also saw an unusual “mini peak” of flu cases in May.
“The entire pattern of what we generally see shifted a fair amount this year, and so it kind of leaves an open question as to what might happen for the rest of the season,” she said.
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According to the latest provincial data, there have been 8,643 cases of influenza recorded so far in the 2022-23 season — 8,593 were influenza A, and 50 were influenza B.
“The overall pattern is often there’s a later season influenza peak and it’s often influenza B and so I’m quite curious to see if we’re going to actually see an influenza B presence now because we have seen barely any influenza B since essentially the end of 2019,” Saxinger said.
There could be a number of factors behind the rapid start to the flu season.
“If you have a light year of respiratory virus you often have a heavier year, the next year,” Saxinger said. “The reason for that is if you think about partial immunity within a community caused by some circulation of a virus, there’s just a higher level of susceptibility after a lighter year.
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“Basically a lot of these viruses took an extended holiday during COVID. There just was much less exposure to a lot of these things.”
The numbers also depend on the amount of testing in a given year.
“This past fall peak, they were testing probably six to 7,000 isolates and in previous years they were testing 1,400 isolates,” Saxinger said. “There was a lot more testing of respiratory viruses going on with this last peak too. It’s hard to know whether it’s really worse, but it certainly was more tested.”
Hospitalizations, deaths higher
Hospitalization numbers from influenza are also higher than in previous years. To date, there have been 1,979 hospitalizations, 205 admissions to the ICU and 102 deaths.
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This is compared to the 2019-2020 season when 1,534 hospitalizations and 39 deaths were recorded.
“Certainly every single year there’s a bunch of severe flu cases in the hospital and in the ICU and in this case that was happening earlier than it generally does,” Saxinger said.
She encourages people who have not had their flu shot yet to do so.
“The pattern is definitely not as predictable as some years have been,” Saxinger said. “There is, I think, probably a higher risk of another influenza B surge than an influenza A surge … We haven’t seen a sign of that yet, but the current vaccine would have some protection against influenza B and influenza B basically can be as severe as influenza A.”
Albertans can also get their COVID-19 booster at the same time.
“There’s no problem with giving them at the same time. Your immune system can handle that perfectly well,” Saxinger said.
“Giving them at the same time, I think, potentially would be a really great way forward if we’re going to be getting seasonal boosters around the same time because we suspect that COVID will also be a fall/winter predominant virus.”
'Sharp upswing': Flu shots encouraged after early peak of Alberta cases, says U of A infectious disease specialist - Edmonton Journal
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