Flu season still here, warns mom of Calgary cancer patient sick with influenza B

The mother of a young Calgary cancer patient is reminding Albertans the flu season is not over yet, and she’s calling on people to consider the vulnerable when they’re weighing vaccination this fall.

After a steep drop-off early in the year, Alberta saw a resurgence of influenza through February and most of March, driven by influenza B, which often arrives later in the season.

“It’s been a rocky last week and a half,” said Erin Nicholls, whose four-year-old son, Arthur, was diagnosed with leukemia two years ago.

Because he’s still going through treatment, his immune system is suppressed and he’s at higher risk for severe illness. 

When he came down with a fever and tested positive for influenza B a week and a half ago, Nicholls was worried.

“Every noise he makes — if he breathes the wrong way, if we hear an extra cough in the night —you’re definitely going to the worst case scenario,” she said.

Arthur has been to the emergency room twice since he came down with the flu. He ended up developing what doctors believe is a secondary infection.

“I have rotated through the oncology unit in my training and I’ve seen children like him close to dying from sepsis,” said Nicholls, who is a family physician. “And there’s always that thought in my mind, like, what if he takes a turn for the worse?”

She’s also concerned additional trips to the emergency room increase his risk of catching other infections such as measles.

And she cautioned they also add pressure to hospitals, which are already under strain.

Arthur’s leukemia treatment is working and is expected to be finished in June.

Protect people like Arthur, mom urges

The entire family was vaccinated against the flu in the fall.

But Nicholls said Arthur likely didn’t mount a strong enough response to the vaccine due to the immune-suppressing chemotherapy treatment.

She’s urging all Albertans to roll up their sleeves for the shot in the fall before the next flu season hits. She hopes “people will be a little bit more willing to take that extra step to protect both themselves and vulnerable members of the community, which can include people like Arthur.”

Nicholls is also calling on the province to increase access to the flu shot for next season, noting she’s heard from parents who struggled to make appointments for their kids last fall and gave up as a result.

‘Not just protecting myself but protecting my community’

According to Edmonton-based pediatrician Dr. Sam Wong, anyone who is immunosuppressed is at a higher risk of severe illness due to both influenza A and B.

“They’re more likely to be hospitalized. They’re more likely to end up in ICU,” he said.

In addition, younger children and the elderly are considered at higher risk. He strongly recommends those groups get vaccinated along with their close contacts.

Ideally, he’d like to see everyone take Nicholls’ advice and get the shot.

“Getting the flu vaccine, depending on the match, may reduce infectivity and reduce the risk of that person catching it when they’re out and about,” said Wong, the president of the Alberta Medical Association’s section of pediatrics.

“It’s a nice way of looking at vaccination that it’s not just protecting myself but protecting my community. And I think that that is sometimes forgotten now, unfortunately.”

Slight dip in cases after weeks climbing

The latest provincial update, released Tuesday evening, shows influenza case counts and positivity rates have dipped slightly after climbing in recent weeks. The current positivity rate for the province is just over 10 per cent.

Dr. James Dickinson, a professor emeritus of family medicine at the University of Calgary, said influenza B typically arrives later in the flu season.

He co-ordinates the Alberta community respiratory surveillance network, a group of family doctors who swab patients for infections such as influenza. He describes the recent uptick as “moderate.”

“Our sentinels are definitely seeing quite a lot of people coming in with moderately severe respiratory illness from this,” he said in a recent interview with CBC News.

He’s urging people who are sick to stay home and even isolate from family members in a separate room if possible. He also recommends using N95 masks.

Even with the recent upswing, case counts and hospital admissions are far lower than they were during the December peak.

There have been 263 deaths from the flu in Alberta so far this season, including a baby under the age of one.