Four more die of swine flu
Deaths in Manitoba and Quebec push national toll to 11
PATRICK WHITE AND DAKSHANA BASCARAMURTY
WINNIPEG — From Wednesday's Globe and Mail, Thursday, Jun. 18, 2009 03:45AM EDT
Four more Canadians - including an apparently healthy Winnipeg man in his 40s - have succumbed to swine flu, health officials said yesterday, pushing the national toll to 11.
The Winnipeg man is the youngest Canadian to die of the virus.
"It's particularly concerning when they occur in people in their 40s," said Joel Kettner, Manitoba's Chief Public Health Officer. "This is a premature death by anyone's test."
The second death in Manitoba, where the aboriginal population has been particularly afflicted by H1N1, was a woman from the northern part of the province who suffered from another serious health condition, though officials would not specify the nature of the ailment.
In Quebec, a Montreal man and woman between 35 and 50 years old marked the province's fifth and sixth flu deaths. Both had underlying health problems, according to health officials.
While the Winnipeg death is alarming considering the man's lack of known risk factors, one infectious-disease expert working on the front lines of Manitoba's pandemic response posited that the man likely died of something other than H1N1.
Ethan Rubinstein said the man collapsed in the waiting room of a Winnipeg clinic. He was resuscitated and rushed to Grace Hospital before collapsing a second time after several lucid hours.
"He originally arrived at the clinic with H1N1 symptoms, but it doesn't sound to me like that's what he died of," said Dr. Rubinstein, head of infectious diseases at the University of Manitoba. "He more likely died of a heart condition that wasn't known to physicians."
The two fatalities are the first recorded H1N1 deaths in the province. Around 100 people die of influenza every year in Manitoba, according to health officials, though the vast majority usually come during the more active winter flu season.
As of yesterday, 31 flu victims were hooked up to respirators in Manitoba. As many as two-thirds of those patients are aboriginal, according to health officials.
On Monday, the MP for the riding covering Manitoba's predominantly aboriginal northern region toured Garden Hill and St. Theresa Point, two native towns hard hit by the virus. Yesterday, she appeared alongside three Manitoba chiefs in Ottawa to appeal for more supplies and a meeting with federal Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq.
"When I visited those communities, people told me they are tired, they are scared," said MP Niki Ashton. "This is a national pandemic, this is a national disgrace."
Staff in Ms. Aglukkaq's office met with chiefs yesterday.
Ontario's Ministry of Health, meanwhile, has recommended physicians not test people for influenza unless they are pregnant, have been hospitalized or have underlying health conditions.
"The majority of lab tests that go forward come back negative." said Barbara Yaffe, Toronto Public Health's director of communicable disease control.
Toronto Public Health hasn't noticed any increases in emergency room visits or absenteeism at schools, and has told schools and offices to carry on with business as usual, even when they have confirmed cases of H1N1.
In British Columbia, the Burnaby School District will close Marlborough Elementary School for a week starting today because five people at the school have H1N1 flu.
Elsewhere in the province, people are following the advice of public health agencies. "I haven't seen any panic since the early days," said Perry Kendall, British Columbia's Provincial Health Officer.
With a report from Anna Mehler Paperny
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