# 4172
The Public Health Agency of Canada produces a weekly influenza summary called FluWatch, which is very similar to the US FluView report from the CDC. In it you will find maps, charts, and summaries of the previous week’s influenza surveillance.
As in the United States, Canada’s flu numbers this week are declining.
A few excerpts from this week’s report (ending December 12th), but follow the FluWatch link to read it in its entirety.
Summary of FluWatch Findings for the Week ending December 12, 2009
- On week 49, the overall influenza activity continued to decline for the fourth consecutive week in Canada.
- The ILI consultation rate was below the expected range for this time of the year and only 6.6% of the specimens tested were positive for influenza. The Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 strain still accounted for nearly 100% of the positive influenza A subtyped specimens this week.
- The number of hospitalized cases (159 vs. 307), ICU admissions (40 vs. 83) and deaths (21 vs. 33) reported this week are about half of those reported last week. Among reporting provinces and territories (PTs) this week, hospitalized cases occurred in only six provinces (BC, AB, SK, ON, QC & NS). Deaths reported this week were also from the same five provinces except MB (BC, AB, SK, MB, ON & QC).
- From August 30 to December 12, 2009, a total of 6,779 hospitalized cases including 1,081 (15.9%) cases admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) as well as 313 (4.6%) deaths had been reported.
Canadian situation
Antigenic Characterization
Since September 1, 2009, the National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) has antigenically characterized 518 Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 viruses and eight seasonal influenza viruses (two influenza A/H1N1, five H3N2, and one B virus) that were received from Canadian laboratories.
Of the 518 Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 viruses characterized, 515 (99.4%) were antigenically related to A/California/7/2009, which is the pandemic reference virus selected by WHO as the Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 vaccine.
Three viruses (0.6%) tested showed reduced titer with antisera produced against A/California/7/09. Sequence analysis of the HA showed that the two viruses with reduced titer did not have the mutation at amino acid position D222G as reported by Norway.
Of the five seasonal influenza A (H3N2) viruses characterized, one was related to A/Brisbane/10/07, which is the influenza A/H3N2 component recommended for the 2009-10 influenza vaccine and four viruses were antigenically related to A/Perth/16/09, which is the WHO recommended influenza A (H3N2) component for the 2010 Southern Hemisphere vaccine.
Antiviral Resistance
NML: Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 viruses tested so far have been sensitive to zanamivir (554 samples) but resistant to amantadine (580 samples).
Provinces: Seven cases of oseltamivir resistant Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 were reported to date in Canada: one in Alberta, four in Ontario and two in Quebec.
