he flu has returned with a vengeance after being absent for a couple of years during the COVID-19 pandemic
What flu strains are we seeing this flu season?
Over the last decade, Influenza B strains have tended to arrive later in the season, said Dr. Allison McGeer, an infectious diseases specialist and microbiologist at Sinai Health Systems in Toronto.H3N2 can cause more severe illness than other strains, especially among seniors who are more vulnerable, partly because it mutates faster so people don't have as much acquired immunity protection, said McGeer.
"We're now seeing all our old viral foes coming back to play after being on hiatus for a couple of years," said Dr. Justin Penner, pediatric infectious diseases specialist at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario and member of the Canadian Paediatric Society’s infectious diseases and immunization committee.
"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."In the vast majority of cases, flu can be treated at home, doctors say."There's an entire range from just severity of the influenza illness itself to complications," she said.Myocarditis and encephalitis are other possible complications of the flu.
Based on data from Australia, which already had its flu season, this year's vaccine appears to be about 50 per cent effective in reducing severe illness from the flu, he said."Looking at 50 per cent prevention of severe outcomes could certainly have saved a lot of misery across the country ."
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