This year’s flu strain stronger
From CBC.ca:
The B.C. Centre for Disease Control says initial indications are this year’s flu season is starting earlier than usual and the dominant strain will be stronger than last year’s.
Lead researcher Dr. Danuta Skowronski says, although it’s impossible to forecast the flu season, an “unusually early number of outbreaks” of the influenza virus H3N2 has already been detected at long-term care facilities. Typically the flu season doesn’t pick up until the end of November and peaks in late December, she says.
This year’s dominate strain is also considered more powerful than last year’s mild H1N1 strain.While healthy young people aren’t exempt, this strain of the virus is most likely to target seniors, those with underlying illnesses and children.
Skowronski says the “silver lining” is that this year’s vaccine does help protect against the strain. That wasn’t the case two years ago when it was also an H3N2 year but the flu vaccine was mismatched, contributing to one of the worst years on record, she notes. She says it’s important to get vaccinated this year considering most people’s resistance to the strain will likely have waned in recent years.