The next update will be on Thursday, November 5rd, at 0830 hrs PST.
The WHO Pandemic Alert level remains at Phase 6
Influenza A (H1N1) Cases and Deaths
*Cases reported by The World Health Organization (WHO) are as of October 25th, 2009
Vaccine News
Ontario Health Minister Deb Matthews said residents eligible for the H1N1 shot are experiencing shorter lineups. The number of clinics across Ontario has doubled from 50 to 100. Canadian Press
In Alberta, Health Minister Ron Liepert was called to an emergency meeting with Premier Ed Stelmach and the province's chief health officer after Alberta was forced to suspend its immunization clinics over the weekend due to a shortage of vaccine. Canadian Press
Dwindling supplies also forced temporary suspensions in parts of Manitoba, where the opposition accused the NDP government of creating chaos and public confusion. Canadian Press
Clinics continued to operate in Nova Scotia, but the province has already administered half the doses it received from national suppliers and is only expecting 12,500 this week. Canadian Press
British Columbia has extended the eligibility list for the H1N1 virus to children under five, health care workers and those who take care of infants. By the end of the week, the province will have shipped out 800,000 doses of the vaccine. CBC
The Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunization, which advises the WHO on policies and strategies for vaccines and immunization, acknowledged the U.S. CDC recommendation, that live attenuated seasonal and live attenuated pandemic vaccines should not be co-administered. Seasonal and pandemic vaccines can be administered simultaneously, provided both vaccines are inactivated, or one is inactivated and the other is live attenuated. SAGE also noted that studies in experimental animals using live attenuated vaccines and non-adjuvanted or adjuvanted inactivated vaccines found no evidence of harmful effects on fertility, pregnancy, development of the fetus, birthing, or post-natal development. WHO
National News
There will be an emergency debate in Parliament on Ottawa's response to the H1N1 crisis. Conservative officials emphasized in Question Period that Canada is ahead of the rest of the world on a per-capita basis, with six million doses of the vaccine already in circulation. But the Liberals have said that the Conservatives have to take responsibility for failing to deliver all the promised doses to the provinces, which administer the shots. While the federal government does not decide where vaccine shots are administered, opposition MPs chastized private clinics in Toronto and Vancouver that have received doses. Globe and Mail
The Yukon has seen its first death related to the H1N1 influenza virus. A young girl from the territory, who had a chronic medical condition, died Sunday evening in a Vancouver hospital. Tests confirmed the girl had the H1N1 flu virus. CBC
Federal government data show the provinces and territories have used just over one million doses of H1N1 flu drugs from the national antiviral stockpile and family doctors are seeing increased volumes of patients with influenza-like symptoms. According to latest surveillance data from the Public Health Agency of Canada, the country is experiencing "striking" increases in flu activity across the country, particularly in the West. Canada has a national stockpile of 55-million doses of two antiviral medicines, Tamiflu and Relenza. Canwest News Services
International News
The World Health Organization sent a team of experts to Ukraine today to investigate an outbreak of respiratory disease that’s sickened a quarter of a million people and left pharmacies without masks or flu remedies. Ukraine’s government has closed schools and banned public events. Ukraine faces an outbreak of flu-like illness that’s killed at least 67 people and infected 255,000. Bloomberg
Egyptian authorities quarantined 40 British schoolchildren, some as young as 4, when they stepped off a plane at Sharm al-Sheikh International Airport on a school holiday. The incoming passengers were scanned by hidden infrared imaging devices and those with temperatures even slightly above normal were placed into quarantine for a minimum of five days. New York Times
China reported its seventh death from H1N1 flu last week and said there have been 44,981 cases on the mainland since the outbreak began. The country has moved aggressively to vaccinate vulnerable groups, including students and Muslims participating in the hajj to Saudi Arabia. The country manufactures its own H1N1 flu vaccine. New York Times
Afghanistan declared a health emergency today and ordered schools closed for three weeks in an effort to prevent spread of the virus. Health officials also advised against gatherings, such as weddings, in enclosed spaces. New York Times
Antiviral News
H1N1 flu is sickening so many children across the U.S. that federal health officials decided Friday to release the last 234,000 liquid doses of the national stockpile of children’s Tamiflu. Flu has now killed 114 children and teenagers in the United States since April. Since the CDC. began tracking children’s flu deaths five years ago, the highest toll was 88, in the winter of 2007-8. More doses from Roche are not expected to arrive before January. New York Times
Weekly Feature
Check out the number of vaccines already distributed and forecasted to be distributed throughout Canada, province by province from the Public Health Agency of Canada.
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