Canada : Seasonal flu more dangerous, widespread in H1N1’s wake

Via Healthzone, excerpt :

" Did swine flu cry wolf once too often?

The ailment might well have caused more heated headlines than dangerously heated heads in Ontario since it made its global debut in the spring of 2009.

But the fizzled H1N1 phenomenon has now helped send vaccination rates in the province plummeting, leaving it open to a completely different and more dangerous influenza strain this winter, infection control experts say.

Vaccination rates for seasonal flu are likely down 10 to 15 per cent from normal Ontario levels, leaving the province vulnerable to a virus eight to 10 times more lethal to older people, says Dr. Allison McGeer, head of infection control at Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital."