CanadaSue
12-24-2004, 04:55 PM
Let's keep this short & sweet as the Big Guy in the red suit would rather this be a "flue Friday".
Squat going on in Europe - it's still below baseloines levels everywhere but Spain & Northern Ireland where levels are up a bit. All smaples subtyped are known strains - no surprises.RSV levels are low as well. They predict not much until after the holidays.
In the US, positive flu tests are climbing but nothing extraordinarily high anywhere yet. All A smaples have been A/Fujian. 2 'B' strains are showing up - about 20% of types samples - B/Yamagata/16/88 and B/Victoria/2/87. Only 2 B/Victoria samples have shown up.
Flu related mortality remains well below baseline & 3 reports of kids having been hospitalized due to flu have been reverses - tests showed NOT flu.
In Canada, only Quebec is showing widespread activity but nothing out of the ordinary there either. We have a fair # of kids in hospital due to flu up to now this season - 31 kids under 16. All due to A strain. All strains are those already identified.
So I'm predicting relative flu calm until about the middle of January. Not seeing any new strains or unusual variants is very good news.
Merry Christmas, everyone.
Squat going on in Europe - it's still below baseloines levels everywhere but Spain & Northern Ireland where levels are up a bit. All smaples subtyped are known strains - no surprises.RSV levels are low as well. They predict not much until after the holidays.
In the US, positive flu tests are climbing but nothing extraordinarily high anywhere yet. All A smaples have been A/Fujian. 2 'B' strains are showing up - about 20% of types samples - B/Yamagata/16/88 and B/Victoria/2/87. Only 2 B/Victoria samples have shown up.
Flu related mortality remains well below baseline & 3 reports of kids having been hospitalized due to flu have been reverses - tests showed NOT flu.
In Canada, only Quebec is showing widespread activity but nothing out of the ordinary there either. We have a fair # of kids in hospital due to flu up to now this season - 31 kids under 16. All due to A strain. All strains are those already identified.
So I'm predicting relative flu calm until about the middle of January. Not seeing any new strains or unusual variants is very good news.
Merry Christmas, everyone.