Charsee
06-12-2009, 11:05 AM
<!-- / icon and title --> <!-- message --> Jen Skerritt, Canwest News Service Published: Wednesday, June 10, 2009 WINNIPEG
Chilling parallels between the spread of H1N1 swine flu and the 1918 Spanish flu that killed millions have disease experts bracing for an onslaught of new infections and a possible second wave of illness.
Dr. Ethan Rubinstein, professor of infectious diseases at the University of Manitoba, said experts believe the H1N1 influenza will follow the same pattern as the 1918 pandemic, as the virus continues to spread in more countries and causes a disproportionate amount of severe illness in First Nation communities.
In the past week, the H1N1 virus has erupted in the northern Manitoba First Nations communities of St. Theresa Point and Garden Hill -- both remote reserves with poor access to health care, overcrowded homes and a lack of running water.
Similarly impoverished aboriginal communities were hit hard by the 1918 outbreak. In Norway House Cree Nation in Manitoba, nearly one in five people died from Spanish flu.
Although public health is better equipped to deal with a widespread outbreak, Dr. Rubinstein said there is no vaccine to protect against the first wave of the virus, and antiviral drugs such as Tamiflu do not stop the spread of influenza. He said no one knows whether the latest cluster of flu cases is the end of the first wave of illness, or the beginning of a second wave.
The 1918 pandemic started with a mild wave of flu in spring that fizzled out, resurfaced in the fall and hit hard in November, 1918, The flu circled the globe and killed anywhere from 20 to 50 million people -- more lives than the First World War claimed.
"The working hypothesis now is that this pandemic will follow the 1918 [pattern]," Dr. Rubinstein said after a lecture at the University of Winnipeg on Wednesday.
http://www.nationalpost.com/rss/story.html?id=1683171
Chilling parallels between the spread of H1N1 swine flu and the 1918 Spanish flu that killed millions have disease experts bracing for an onslaught of new infections and a possible second wave of illness.
Dr. Ethan Rubinstein, professor of infectious diseases at the University of Manitoba, said experts believe the H1N1 influenza will follow the same pattern as the 1918 pandemic, as the virus continues to spread in more countries and causes a disproportionate amount of severe illness in First Nation communities.
In the past week, the H1N1 virus has erupted in the northern Manitoba First Nations communities of St. Theresa Point and Garden Hill -- both remote reserves with poor access to health care, overcrowded homes and a lack of running water.
Similarly impoverished aboriginal communities were hit hard by the 1918 outbreak. In Norway House Cree Nation in Manitoba, nearly one in five people died from Spanish flu.
Although public health is better equipped to deal with a widespread outbreak, Dr. Rubinstein said there is no vaccine to protect against the first wave of the virus, and antiviral drugs such as Tamiflu do not stop the spread of influenza. He said no one knows whether the latest cluster of flu cases is the end of the first wave of illness, or the beginning of a second wave.
The 1918 pandemic started with a mild wave of flu in spring that fizzled out, resurfaced in the fall and hit hard in November, 1918, The flu circled the globe and killed anywhere from 20 to 50 million people -- more lives than the First World War claimed.
"The working hypothesis now is that this pandemic will follow the 1918 [pattern]," Dr. Rubinstein said after a lecture at the University of Winnipeg on Wednesday.
http://www.nationalpost.com/rss/story.html?id=1683171