Battling the Bug

When two-year-old Peter Flett started showing signs of being infected with H1N1 influenza earlier this year, the staff at the Winnipeg Health Region's Children's Hospital were there to help

By Joel Schlesinger

Christina Flett knew something was wrong.

Normally, her two-year-old son likes nothing better than to play with his toys, especially his little red car. But on this spring day, Peter wasn't feeling much like playing.

Upon closer inspection, Christina discovered that he had a bit of a fever. Soon after, he was vomiting. At first, she gave him Tylenol and a sponge bath. But when the fever refused to abate, Christina and her father, Jack Harper, took the boy to a nursing station at Garden Hill, a First Nations community in northern Manitoba.

It would be the first of several visits over the course of the next week. Each time, staff at the station would give Peter medication to help bring down the fever, and each time the fever returned. As his condition deteriorated, the family became more concerned. "There was definitely a change of attitude," says Harper. "He was drowsy, not feeling like doing anything."

Eventually, the boy was airlifted to the Winnipeg Health Region's Children's Hospital, the primary pediatric treatment centre for Manitoba, northwest Ontario and Nunavut. Upon arriving at the Emergency Department, it was apparent that the boy was seriously ill. He was admitted to hospital and quickly diagnosed with pneumonia, brought on by H1N1 influenza.

With that, Peter Flett became one of more than 800 Manitobans who have been officially diagnosed with H1N1 influenza so far this year in what has become one of the biggest public health emergencies in Manitoba's recent history.

Initially identified as swine flu, the H1N1 virus first started grabbing headlines in March when it was linked to the deaths of more than 150 people in Mexico. It quickly spread right across North America, infecting thousands of people. By June, the virus was circulating through parts of Europe and Asia, prompting the World Health Organization to declare the outbreak a pandemic. In Manitoba, the first confirmed case of H1N1 influenza surfaced on May 4 in Brandon, and by early June the virus was circulating throughout the province. It is estimated that about five to 10 per cent of Manitoba's population of about 1.2 million people were infected by the virus during the outbreak. Manitoba is reporting 886 officially confirmed cases of H1N1 influenza and seven related deaths so far this year. First Nations people, especially those living in remote communities, were among the hardest hit by H1N1 - accounting for about a third of the cases.

Most people exposed to the virus either showed no signs of being sick or were able to recover on their own. But some Manitobans did become extremely ill. Officials estimate that about 70 people with H1N1 virus ended up in one of the Region's Intensive Care Units, often on a ventilator, often fighting for their lives. Peter was one of 31 children, mostly of aboriginal descent, who were treated for H1N1 influenza at Children's Hospital. Fortunately, he was able to fight off the infection after one week in the Intensive Care Unit. Many were not so lucky. Some children had to spend as many as four weeks in intensive care, often hooked up to a ventilator because they could not breathe on their own.

As the number of H1N1 cases grew, Peter emerged as the human face of the influenza story in Manitoba. His family spoke publicly about his experience with H1N1, and his photo appeared alongside many stories on the virus and its impact on First Nations communities. With health officials warning of a possible return of H1N1 in the coming fall and winter influenza season, Peter's story helps illustrate the unforgiving nature of the virus and the toll it can take on individuals, families and communities. It also underscores the challenges facing public health officers and health-care providers, especially those working in ICUs, as they work to prevent the spread of the virus and treat those who become infected with it.

RNA in a Baggie

Influenza, in one form or another, has always been with us. Defined as an infection of the respiratory tract, the word influenza is derived from influenza del freddo, which is Italian for influence of the cold. Although the origins of influenza are not well understood, it is believed the first human cases of the viral infection were recorded about 2,400 years ago in ancient Greece by none other than Hippocrates, considered by many to be the father of medicine.

Since then, there have been countless influenza outbreaks in Europe and elsewhere. There have also been a number of influenza pandemics. The first major one occurred in 1917-1918, when a strain known as Spanish Flu spread around the globe, killing an estimated 40 million to 100 million people. There have been other pandemics since: the Asian Flu Pandemic in 1957, caused by H2N2 strain, killed about four million people worldwide, and the Hong Kong flu pandemic in 1968, caused by H3N2, claimed about one million lives around the world.

In Canada, the influenza season is as predictable as winter. Indeed, one strain of influenza or another usually arrives with the first snowfalls of winter and continues to circulate around the country until spring. The vast majority of Canadians who become infected with these "seasonal" strains of influenza generally manage to suffer through with nothing more than a few days of discomfort. While seasonal influenza can cause death - about 4,000 people die each year - it is typically the elderly and frail with underlying health conditions who are most vulnerable. As a result, the general public doesn't pay much attention to the risks associated with the virus, says Dr. John Embil, Director of the Winnipeg Health Region's Infection Prevention and Control Program. In fact, annual influenza immunization rates are still generally low for the public, hovering at about 34 per cent of the population in 2005, according to an article following influenza vaccination trends in Canada, published by Statistics Canada in 2007.

Continue reading "Battling the Bug"

Pages: 1 | 2 | 3

Back to Wave main page

Wave is published six times a year by the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority in cooperation with the Winnipeg Free Press. It is available at newsstands, hospitals and clinics throughout Winnipeg, as well as McNally Robinson Books.