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Saskatchewan is well into its flu season, and it’s hitting the province earlier than previous years.
Dr. Julie Kryzanowski, Saskatchewan’s deputy chief medical health officer, told Evan Bray that seasonal influenza has returned, in addition to other respiratory viruses currently circulating. The province recently recorded five flu-related deaths in the span of just two weeks.
Saskatchewan hasn’t seen a “typical” influenza season since before the COVID-19 pandemic, the health officer explained on Tuesday, adding that last year the province saw an early onset to flu season and an intense epidemic in the fall.
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Influenza season typically comes in the late fall and early winter, with another wave following later in winter and early spring due to the Influenza B Virus.
The virus hits particular groups especially hard, she explained, including children under five years old.
Part of the reason for that, she said, is because children have not been exposed to as many flu viruses as adults, and although strains adapt and change each year, adults have built up more immunity over time.
Those with health concerns, such as respiratory or cardiovascular conditions, can also be at risk of more severe outcomes when infected with the flu, she said, and older adults can also be at risk.
Kryzanowski said it’s especially important for people in those groups to get a flu shot each season.
The worldwide pandemic disrupted the normal seasonal patterns of influenza. In 2020, the doctor explained, virtually no influenza cases were detected, a fact she called “really abnormal.”
Kryzanowski reiterated the importance of vaccinations, and not just for COVID- 19 and the flu. She said regular pediatric vaccinations for whooping cough and pneumonia also help protect against respiratory infections.
“Those are all really important measures,” she said.
