Kayla Wemp, Centretown News
The standard flu shot may not be sufficient this year due to a particularly agressive strain of the illness. City medical professionals advise residents to be proactive and stay at home if they are noticing flu-like symptoms.A chorus of coughs and runny noses has become the all too familiar anthem of winter in Ottawa. But if you’re feeling as though this season’s flu has been harder to shake than other years you’re not alone.
Marie-Claude Turcotte, program manager of vaccine-preventable diseases at Ottawa Public Health, says the city has been dealing with an increased number of patients suffering from this year’s particularly aggressive and resilient strain of the illness.
“It’s definitely a busier than normal year,” she says.
Ottawa has been hit hard by the H2N3 version of influenza A, a type of swine flu. The virus mutated from the kind originally included in the flu shot, making the vaccine less effective than usual.
“You will get some protection, but it’s not full protection,” Turcotte says.
For many, the cost of the flu is more serious than taking a few days off work.
Children, the elderly, and those with pre-existing chronic illnesses can develop serious complications that in some cases may even be lethal.
Shirley Gillis, director of care at McLeod Retirement Home that sits on the street of the same name, says extra precautions are taken in the flu season to ensure the home is sanitised and that residents have proper access to the shot early in the season.
“We’re very, very proactive,” she says, “I’ve got all the staff on board, I’ve got 99 per cent of the residents on board.”
She says this has helped to prevent an outbreak within the home.
As always, the most effective prescription is prevention.
Many who are sick carry on with their lives as normal. People refuse to take time off work and few are willing to forgo visits with family and friends over the holidays.
This can not only lengthen the duration of a sickness, but expose it to those who may be at a higher risk for complications, says Lisa Mitchell, acting clinical manager of the Centretown Community Health Centre.
“You should be staying at home not only to take care of yourself, but also to prevent the spread to the community,” she says.
In spite of the flu shot mismatch, Mitchell says they will still be recommending getting vaccinated into February. While it cannot protect entirely from the flu it can lessen its symptoms. Mitchell says she saw the different the shot can make first-hand in her personal life.
“I did get the flu shot this year and I got the flu, but compared to my partner who didn’t get the flu shot and got the flu, my symptoms were probably 50 per cent less,” she says.
“So it’s still worthwhile to get it.”
The health centre offered home visits to its elderly patients who couldn’t come to the clinic on their own earlier in the season.
Although the number of cases has been spiking, Mitchell says the resource strain on her clinic has been considerably less thanks to the recent decision to offer the flu shot at local pharmacies.