Youngsters hard hit as flu cases rise

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This article was published 17/11/2022 (770 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Young children have been hit particularly hard as flu cases rise in Manitoba.

The province confirmed the numbers in a new epidemiological report on respiratory virus transmission that was released Friday.

The influenza strain that is predominantly circulating is H3N2, the provincial epidemiology and surveillance team states in its report.

The strain typically puts older adults at higher risk, but so far this flu season, about one-third of confirmed cases have involved children.

Thirteen per cent of flu cases involved children under five years of age during the week of Nov. 6 to 12. That age group accounted for 20 per cent of flu hospitalizations, the report states.

The Children’s Hospital emergency room has been overwhelmed with patient visits in recent weeks. Shared Health stated this week visits continue to occur at a high rate, but are no longer at the record-high level experienced last weekend. On Sunday, the ER logged 201 patient visits.

The combined respiratory virus report replaces the province’s weekly COVID reports in a different format that’s not easily comparable to previous data such as hospitalization and death totals.

It shows increasing rates of influenza, with 54 cases this week and 116 total cases over the past three weeks. Transmission of another respiratory illness — respiratory syncytial virus or RSV — is also rising, the report notes.

COVID-19 transmission, meanwhile, remains steady.

There were 111 COVID-19 hospitalizations, as well as 11 ICU admissions, and five deaths recorded in Manitoba last week, along with six COVID outbreaks in long-term care homes.

Wastewater surveillance data for Winnipeg still shows the high prevalence of COVID-19. Viral load increased in the city’s north end, decreased in the west end, and was unchanged in the south end, as reported by the federal wastewater surveillance dashboard, which was last updated Friday with data current as of Nov. 14.

— Staff