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About FluWatch
FluWatch is Canada's national surveillance system that monitors the spread of flu and flu-like illnesses on an on-going basis. FluWatch reports, posted every Friday, contain specific information for health professionals on flu viruses circulating in Canada.
The FluWatch program consists of a network of labs, hospitals, doctor's offices and provincial and territorial ministries of health. Program objectives include to:
- Detect flu outbreaks across the country as early as possible
- Provide timely up-to-date information on flu activity in Canada and abroad to health professionals [and interested Canadians]
- Monitor circulating strains of the flu virus (like H1N1) and assess their sensitivity to antiviral medications, [such as Tamiflu and Relenza]. Antivirals, when used by doctors to treat flu, can help reduce the severity of the illness and the recovery time for a patient
- Provide information that the World Health Organization can use to make its recommendations on the best vaccine to use for seasonal flu shots.
The Summary Box below covers the main findings from the current week's FluWatch posting and contains links to specific information, graphs and charts contained in the publication.
Summary of FluWatch Findings for the
Week ending July 17, 2010
- Overall influenza activity in Canada has remained low since the beginning of 2010, although 6 and 7 regions have reported sporadic activity during week 27 and 28, respectively. Six specimens (out of 2,005 or 0.3%) tested positive for influenza in weeks 27-28; one pandemic H1N1 2009, one influenza A/H3N2, two unsubtyped influenza A and two influenza B. Those specimens were reported from BC, AB and QC.
- Overall pandemic influenza activity remained low worldwide as of July 12, 2010. Low levels of influenza were reported from the southern Hemisphere except for South Africa (influenza activity due to seasonal influenza B and H3N2) although half of the winter season has already passed. The most active areas of pandemic influenza virus transmission currently were in parts of South Asia, West Africa, and Central America. Seasonal influenza H3N2 viruses continue to circulate at varying levels across parts of the Americas, Africa, and Southeast Asia.
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