Flu surveillance shows most of the outbreaks have been in schools, particularly here in BC. But school boards refuse to install hand sanitizers.
I am a strong advocate for hand-washing however, there is a body of evidence that hand washing doesn't address H1N1.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/215435

Wonder about hand sanitizers (which are all the rage right now) with regular hand washing, will that help?

Pandemic flus have peak activities early in the season (Nov-Dec) whereas seasonal flu usually peak in Jan-Feb. You can see this in the number of consultations this year compared to previous seasons.


Can you provide a source for this? It doesnt make sense to me. I dont see it refered to in the link you posted.



Flu surveillance shows most of the outbreaks have been in schools, particularly here in BC. But school boards refuse to install hand sanitizers.


I heard the high schoolers have been drinking the product (it contains a lot of ethanol often) or using it to light fires in the early schools they tried it in.

Hand washing may not help but sneezing and coughing into your elbow or inside of your coat will help. Its an easy habit to pick up I found.

What distribution shift have we seen compared to past 'regular' strains? I can't find specifics (median age etc). Just general statements.


I looked this up for a while. It's strange that the CDC calls the "Spanish Flu" 1918 pandemic strain "H1N1" as well. Is this really the same?

Anyway, here's a graph I found that shows the mortality rate shift in age populations:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:W_curve.png

Taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenza

And as polaris said, the CDC link he provided shows the morality rate by age for H1N1 as well. The normal "flu" is likely to kill very young and very old people, often suffering from other health problems. The H1N1 strain tends to kill otherwise healthy people in the teens to 40s and at a much higher rate than non-pandemic strains of the Influenza virus.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2009/10/27/11535446-sun.html

Get the H1N1 shot. It's one thing to take a cavalier attitude towards your own health. How would you feel if you spread the H1N1 flu to someone else who ended up getting killed by it?

Risk is something that is hard for most people to put into perspective, especially when we are continually bomarded by reports of things that may harm or kill us. This H1N1 strain (there are many, including the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic) is a flu virus like the others, but it is different in ways that make it more of a concern. Most people that get it will not die, but our society does not tolerate people dying from new and unfamiliar things (remember West Nile Virus?). It is thought that young, otherwise healthy individuals are more susceptible to these pandemic strains because they do not have the "immunological memory" of the older generation, who may have been exposed to something similar at some point.

The fact is, this strain is working its way through the public schools right now and some more children will die. Not a lot, but one of them may be yours. Is the vaccine a guarantee against infection? Of course not, but it will reduce the chance of getting it and spreading it to others. This is how population medicine works.

As for hand sanitizers, they likely play a small role, but cough and sneeze droplets are the most common means of spread. If someone in your workplace, on the bus, in the classroom etc. has the virus you will likely get it if they are not covering their mouth and nose as requested, even if you wash your hands. And yes, good old soap and water is still effective.

What worries me is the whole vaccination program in Ottawa. Relatively few clinics, and their open hours are ridiculous. Some (like the one near me) is only open 4 hours a day. They need to be open 10-12 hours to get ahead of the wave. Once they "open" it up to everyone (rather than the limited set of people now permitted to get a shot), there will be chaos. This will intensify with each passing day and each additional report of a fatality.

They seemed surprised when 400 people show up hours before the clinic opens. I'm not.

It was observed in the previous 4 influenza pandemics. A mild flu at the end of one flu season followed by a early outbreak the following season. We can see this pattern in the current statistics on patient visits. ILI consultations are twice the average for the previous 10 years. Much closer to the Jan-Feb levels for the season flu.

http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/fluwatch/09-10/w41_09/index-eng.php

Fortunately, the swine flu did not return with a new dangerous mutation as did the 1918 Spanish Flu.

For those that like numbers...

http://www.flucount.org/

Canada
Cases/million: 356.69
Deaths/million: 3.11

I suspect there are many many more people with H1N1 that did not bother to seek medical attention. The frequency numbers are biased and not a real representation of the population.

In case anyone is still interested in this topic.:)

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/11/11/ekos-poll.html