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Interior Health recently reviewed the previous flu season, finding it a very unusual year.
Primarily, it was because of a different flu stream than normal. For the first time since the 2010/11 flu season, the predominant virus was H1N1, often called the swine flu.
While the most at-risk groups are usually fairly constant, with young children, seniors, and those with chronic health conditions being the main three, last season was a bit different. The higher risk was actually those between 20-60 years old, similar to in the 2009 pandemic year. One guess by Interior Health for this was that this young/middle age group may not have gotten the flu shot or have previous immunity.
Last year Interior Health was busy from October to November, and in December reports of the flu were increasing. Alberta was especially hard hit, facing capacity and resource problems. Going into January, the Interior had their first confirmed death from H1N1 and there were reports across B.C. of patients in intensive care. While Interior Health was extremely busy, they shared resources between centres for vaccines and didn't run out during the season. Though last year wasn't a pandemic year, Interior Health is still learning from that season to better serve residents.
The four main pandemics in recent history were the Spanish flu in 1918, the Asian flue in 1956, the Hong Kong flu in 1964, and the swine flu in 2009.
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