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Thursday, January 6, 2011

Canada : Alberta flu outbreak looms: Official

Via Edmonton Sun :

" Health officials are bracing for a tidal wave of influenza cases in the coming weeks.

It comes as Alberta Health Services struggles to meet its goal of vaccinating one-third of Albertans against the flu.

Dr. Gerry Predy, senior medial officer of health, said AHS has already confirmed 93 cases of influenza across the province.

"But we know the number of lab confirmed cases is just the tip of the iceberg," he said. "There has been a fair bit of activity."

Predy said the worst is around the corner.

"At this stage we haven't fully entered our annual flu outbreak," he said.
"We're expecting that to happen in the next few weeks."

There are three strains of the flu virus that have been identified in Alberta this season, including the H1N1 variety, which caused a pandemic last year.

Predy urged all Albertans to get a flu shot, which is free of charge and protects against all three strains."

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