As the number of confirmed cases continues to climb across Windsor-Essex, the acting associate medical officer of health continues to stress the importance of getting a flu shot.
Dr. Wajid Ahmed says 71 patients have influenza, including patients at 19 long-term care and retirement homes across Essex County. There were 156 confirmed cases by the second week of January last year, but Ahmed says that doesn't necessarily mean the flu isn't hitting as hard. He says the number of infections in the community could be much higher.
"It depends a lot on the people who are infected by influenza and their behaviour," he says. "The people who have been affected by influenza in the past, they know how it looks like. So, if it happens to them, they know right from the beginning that this is influenza, and this is what they need to do."
He says many of those patients will not seek medical treatment while the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit only tracks reported cases in the community.
The Centers for Disease Control has reported a shift in the H3N2 strain of the virus, so this year's vaccine isn't as effective as past ones. However, Ahmed insists this year's shot is still better protection against influenza than no shot at all.
