Dale Bass – Kamloops This Week
There were 26 lab-confirmed cases of influenza in the Thompson-Cariboo-Shuswap region as of Nov. 14 — and the good news, in most of the cases, is that the strain is one included in this year’s flu shot.
Dr. Kamran Golmohammadi, a preventive-medicine specialist and medical health officer with Interior Health Authority, called that news the “silver lining.”
Thirty eight residents in two-long-term care facilities in Kamloops have experienced respiratory illness — and eight have died.
Golmohammadi said, however, not all of those cases were confirmed by laboratory testing to be influenza.
The flu can manifest through a variety of symptoms — or show no symptoms at all.
Some people can carry the virus, but never have it affect their health. Others might develop cold-like symptoms, with a drippy nose, weakness and fatigue.
Others might have respiratory symptoms and fever, a sense of their chest tightening.
In severe cases, it can lead to secondary infections as the body’s immune system is compromised.
According to Public Health Agency of Canada, the number of hospitalizations of people with influenza reached a high of more than 7,000 last year.
Flu-related deaths increased to a high of about 600 last year.