Twenty six cases province wide

While there have been no confirmed cases of swine flu in Jasper, the epidemic did affect the town’s director of emergency services.

Director of emergency services Greg Van Tighem recently returned from a vacation to Mexico where he did notice that human swine flu appears to be taken seriously. “When we arrived... one thing I noticed was there was a scattering of people wearing masks on the street... but as the week went on, that became more consistent,” Van Tighem said.

At the airport before his flight home, Van Tighem had to have his temperature taken and fill out a checklist of symptoms related to the virus. Although there were loopholes in the system, such as reusing the same pens, airline passengers were briefed on the flu, staff wore gloves and passed out masks for people who were sneezing. 

When Van Tighem returned to Jasper, he spent a couple of days at home just to make sure he wasn’t showing any signs of swine flu. Given his position in town, Van Tighem believes that it was a “prudent” action for him to stay home a couple days and touch base with Health Link Alberta before returning to work where he could potentially infect others. 

As of May 5, 2009, there are 26 total cases of the H1N1 flu virus (human swine flu) in the province. Albertans also have the unpleasant distinction of being the only province with a case of severe swine flu requiring hospitalization.

Speaking with reporters in Edmonton on May 4, Dr. Andre Corriveau, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health said that “there is a range of illness... We are dealing with a novel virus... but so far as we can tell and even still today, it is behaving like another normal influenza virus. It doesn’t mean that we have to let our guard down... it’s still traveling around the world... we need to monitor this closely,” he said. 

The median age of people infected with the swine flu is 22, according to the Health and Wellness Alberta website. Of the 26 confirmed cases, 13 are from the Calgary area, five are from the Edmonton area, five from central Alberta and three from northern Alberta. Although not all 26 cases were the result of travel to Mexico, 21 of those infected had traveled to Mexico recently.

Even though there are 26 confirmed cases in the province, Dr. Corriveau cautioned that it’s not really helpful to focus on the total number, but rather on the number of active cases. However, Dr. Corriveau would not comment on the number of active cases except to say that “it would be a fraction of those [26 total cases].” 

Dr. Gerry Predy, senior medical officer of health for Alberta Health Services, spoke along Dr. Corriveau at the Monday news conference. “It’s not anything unanticipated at this stage,” said Dr. Predy, adding that the human swine flu virus is behaving similar to seasonal influenza.    Dr. Predy also stated that the number of calls to Health Link Alberta has dropped off from last week. 

Both doctors avoided commenting directly on the young girl that has been hospitalized with a severe case of human swine flu, other than to say that her hospitalization took place last Thursday and to their knowledge she had not recently traveled outside the province, but that their investigation was not complete.

“We’re still watching the evolution of this virus... On a day-by-day basis it’s evolving in a mild way and we’re watching what will happen next,” said Dr. Predy. 

Although Van Tighem and the disaster response crew have to plan for the worst-case scenario – a full-blown pandemic – he doesn’t want residents to “be alarmed or panic. We want people to be cognizant that it’s out there and they need to take extra measures to alleviate any spread or additional spread,” he said. 

As far as individual pointers are concerned, Van Tighem emphasized staying home if you feel sick, don’t rush to hospital if you feel sick, call the Health Link Alberta phone number, wash your hands or carry hand sanitizer and keep etiquette in mind - if you sneeze, blow to the inside of your elbow and not into your hands. 

For more information visit the Alberta Health Services website (www.health.alberta.ca) of call Health Link Alberta (1-800-408-LINK (5465)) before going to a health care provider’s office or health care facility.

The municipality’s website (www.jasper-alberta.com) has also posted on the home page copies of Jasper’s Pandemic Preparedness Plan and a Preparedness Checklist.