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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2007-01-11, Page 15Influenza is here. While there was a reported case at the end of December in Seaforth, there is now a confirmed case at Braemar Retirement Centre in Wingham. Last week, Braemar’s administrator Archie MacGowan said that influenza A had been confirmed and isolation procedures have been put in place. The home is closed to anyone who can’t produceproof of vaccination against thedisease. “We are monitoring it day to day,”said MacGowan, “and hoping tokeep it to one case.” Huron County Health Unit director Penny Nelligan told county councillors at the Jan. 3 meeting of the “outbreak”, which meant there were at least two cases. Nelligan noted, however, that there could be others who were ill, who had not contacted their doctor. As of that day, Nelligan was notaware of the strain that had hit.However, she said that generallyanyone immunized against theillness should have a level ofimmunity to protect them. She explained that in producing the vaccine for each flu season, the most prevalent strains from around the world are chosen. Councillor Bernie MacLellan said he had heard of several varieties going around. “Some seem to be sick for a day while others say it’s hanging on for weeks. Which are welooking at?”Nelligan said there has been an“enteric” or intestinal illness goingaround that would be similar to theNorwalk virus. This type of disease is typically over in 48 hours, she said. It is characterized by nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain. Headache and low-grade fever may occur. However, with influenza there is fever, headache, aching muscles , fatigue and a cough. Sometimes confused with the common cold,influenza is a much more severedisease and is caused by a differenttype of virus. While the severity may decrease,symptoms can linger for weeks, said Nelligan. Anyone with the flu should drink fluids, get plenty of rest, and perhaps most importantly, stay home to help prevent the spread of the disease. For most people the flu is nothing more than unpleasant, but it can be life- threatening for some. PAGE 16. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JANUARY 11, 2007.Flu bug takes a bite into Huron County While we go through one of the mildest winters to date, there is a question about what this weather does to the cold and flu season. There are theories that the cold weather is necessary and that cold snaps go a long way to kill disease bugs and viruses in the environment, thus sparing us from illness. These theories seem to be unfounded as far as Laura Farrell, public health manager for the Huron County Health Unit in Clinton, can see. Farrell says that in fact the opposite tends to be true in most cases that she has encountered, with the cold weather doing more to harbour disease rather than kill it off. “In the winter, we tend to see quite a bit of the diseases that spread person to person and what we attribute that to is that when it’s cold, people tend to congregate inside more, so the proximity is closer,” says Farrell. “We look at it more from that point of view. People are inside the malls more, they’re inside the house and the windows aren’t open, the air circulation is bad, so when something is airborne, the more chance you have of spreading something from person to person.” A similar problem that has been attributed to global warming is the increase in insect-born diseases. With the climate getting hotter and the cold season getting shorter and shorter, insects have more time to live and breed in the warm weather. This is one of the many problems cited as a result of global warming, an issue garnering much attention as of late mostly due to the efforts of Al Gore and his film An Inconvenient Truth, which explores the science of global warming and its effects on the world now and in the future. Helping forward the issue of global warming has been this unseasonably warm winter, with hardly any snowfall and a climate warm enough that most of the grass outside is still green. “Certainly there would be some legitimacy to [this theory] in terms of insect-born diseases, because if the cold doesn’t come and kill insects, then they’re continuing to breed,” Farrell says. The biggest issue that Farrell has had to deal with so far this winter has been the influenza virus. She says that the numbers coming in are around normal and that the amount of people with the flu is about average for this time of year. Huron County does, however, see the influenza virus later in the season than most other places do Farrell says. “It changes each year, but we tend to see our influenza outbreaks later than the rest of the province. Typically we’re seeing it after Christmas. We’re having our first outbreak now, after Christmas, and that’s more or less what we expected,” Farrell says. To protect yourself, Farrell cites the common precautions that one should take during a cold/flu season, like washing your hands often and a new one that she says is useful, which is sneeze into your sleeve. “When you sneeze into your hand or you cough into your hands, covering up a cough or a sneeze is important don’t get me wrong, but people have to remember if they cough into their hands, to wash them,” Farrell says. “If you do have any bugs or germs, go and wash your hands. That way you don’t risk going around and spreading it to other people. Your hands touch things so much that it’s important to keep them clean, especially during the flu season.” Health manager says cold doesn’t kill germs 422 Queen St., Blyth 519-523-9381 Saturday, January 13 See Monkey Finger Live at the Blyth Inn Open 11:00 am to 12 midnight weekdays and 11:00 am to 2:00 am weekends o r b e th e s ta r y o u r s e lf e v e r y F r id a y n ig h t w ith Winter Sports Pages B l y t h B u l l d o g s A t o m — B a c k r o w , f r o m l e f t : L o r e t t a T h o m p s o n , T r e v o r R a y n a r d , A a r o n P o p p , T y l e r B l a c k , J o h n L e C o m t e , J e f f P l a e t z e r , M a t t h e w P o p p , F o u r t h r o w : C o a c h e s K i r k S t e w a r t , C h a d H a g g i t t , C o l e S t e w a r t , K a r e n P e n n i n g t o n , D o r e e n T h o m p s o n , L i n d a P l a e t z e r , D o u g W a l k e r , L a r r y P l a e t z e r . T h i r d r o w : C o d y D u c h a r m e , D a n a T e e d , J a m i e P l a e t z e r , K e l s e y S m i t h , M a t t h e w C l a r k e , E m m a B r o h m . S e c o n d r o w : R y a n P a q u i n , A l i c i a M i d d e g a a l , C a r l y W h i t f i e l d , C o d y R i c h m o n d , K i r b y C o o k , C o d y K e d d y , C a l e b B r o w n . F r o n t r o w : A d a m C r o n i n , K e v i n P e n n i n g t o n , J o n a t h o n A t k i n s o n , K a y l a B l a c k . A b s e n t : S t e v e n E l l i s . The Citizen Coaches and parents ~ we need your team’s picture and players’ names • Hockey • Broomball 1. Please submit team photo A.S.A.P. 2. Please include players’ and coaches’ names for under the photo. Please help us get ALL the Winter Sports teams published. 404 Queen St., Blyth 519-523-4792 541 Turnberry St., Brussels 519-887-9114 By Bonnie GroppThe Citizen By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen Team players The Belgrave Kinsmen hosted a road hockey game on Sunday as part of Hockey Days in North Huron. The all-ages event was at the Belgrave Community Centre. (Vicky Bremner photo)