Manitoba reports first child death of flu season

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This article was published 09/12/2022 (1042 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba has recorded its first influenza death of a child this flu season.

The child (between the ages of five and 17) is among 12 Manitobans who’ve died of the flu so far this fall, as cases continue to surge, the province said Friday.

Young children, in addition to seniors, are particularly vulnerable to the respiratory illness.

A spokesperson for the province declined to provide specific details Friday — including the child’s age — for privacy reasons.

“Manitoba Health emphasizes that influenza deaths among young children are rare. Vaccinations continue to be the best defence again respiratory disease,” the spokesperson stated.

Health officials across Canada have been raising alarm about the number of seriously ill children infected with respiratory viruses, and the strain this flu season is putting on children’s hospitals and families.

News reports out of B.C. indicated five children had died of the flu last month, with two such deaths recorded in Alberta, as well as one in Ontario, as of late November.

The influenza A strain has caused more than 170 hospitalizations and six intensive-care admissions in Manitoba.

An influx of lab tests for the flu has caused a backlog in Manitoba, and the results haven’t been fully recorded yet, the provincial government stated in its latest epidemiological report for respiratory viruses.

There were 120 confirmed influenza cases logged last week, but that number is artificially low because of the backlog in documentation, the report states. The report is current for the week of Nov. 27 to Dec. 3.

COVID-19 transmission appears to be decreasing — the latest wastewater surveillance data for Winnipeg shows a slight increase at its north end plant and decreases in the west and south end facilities. The data is published by the Public Health Agency of Canada and was current as of Dec. 6.

The provincial government is expected to make an announcement next week about the impending rollout of bivalent boosters for children ages five to 11.

“Public Health is currently reviewing today’s approval of the bivalent… as well as NACI’s recommendations. Planning is actively underway, and we expect to provide an update early next week,” a provincial spokesperson stated.

On Friday, Health Canada announced its approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech Comirnaty Omicron BA.4/BA.5 bivalent-adapted booster for use in children five to 11 years of age.

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca