How Coooold is it where you are?

smitty · Post by **smitty** » Fri Jun 26, 2009 7:30 pm

I hope your community stays healthy Ronald . Native populations are really getting hit bad by H1N1 .

Lisa Schnirring * Staff Writer
Jun 9, 2009 (CIDRAP News)

An official from the World Health Organization (WHO) said today that health experts are closely monitoring novel H1N1 influenza infections in Canada's Inuit populations, following reports that the communities are seeing more than their share of severe cases.

Keiji Fukuda, MD, told reporters at a press briefing, "We can say now that we know a larger number than expected of young Inuit people developed serious illnesses and had to get hospitalized."

He added that the WHO doesn't know if the trend is linked to socioeconomic factors, genetic factors, or chronic underlying diseases, and commented that Inuit groups were hit hard in some earlier pandemics. Fukuda is the WHO's assistant director-general for health security and the environment.

Yesterday, Joel Kettner, MD, Manitoba's chief medical officer, told reporters that 26 people were being treated in intensive care units for suspected novel influenza infections, which is unusual for an influenza outbreak, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) reported. He said more than half of the patients are of aboriginal descent, with an average age of 35.

Manitoba's health department said in a statement yesterday that 15 extra ventilators have arrived at the province's ICUs and that the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority is helping the departments prioritize patients and was considering deferring non-urgent surgical procedures that would normally require use of the units.

As of yesterday, Manitoba said it had confirmed 40 novel flu cases in 6 of its 11 health regions.

Meanwhile, health officials in Canada's Nunavut territory today said the number of confirmed novel flu cases has jumped from 25 to 53, with six patients in the hospital, the CBC reported. Nunavut's population is primarily Inuit.

Donald R. Olson, MPH, research director for the International Society for Disease Surveillance, based in New York City, told CIDRAP News that the severe cases in Canada's Inuit populations are puzzling. However, he added that among remote populations, the 1918 pandemic influenza was more severe and didn't follow the age patterns seen in the rest of the world.

"Inuit groups didn't show the same apparent sparing of the elderly, so possibly the older proportion of the population had not been exposed" to previous viruses related to the pandemic strain, he said.

The medical literature tells of "flu orphans" from remote Alaskan villages who survived the 1918-19 pandemic, though their parents and grandparents died, presumably because they had not been exposed to earlier H1-like viruses.

In 2006 at a state summit in Alaska, former US Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt described the impact of the 1918 pandemic virus on Alaska's native populations. "The Alaska native population in Nome was decimated—176 of the 300 Alaska Natives in the region died," he said in comments posted on the HHS pandemic flu Web site. "The pandemic swept through communities, killing whole villages."

Preexisting health conditions may also have contributed to the severity of the 1918 pandemic in Inuit populations, which also had high tuberculosis rates in the early 20th century, Olson said.

Officials don't know if higher rates of chronic illnesses in today's Inuit populations are playing a role in the high number of severe cases. However, Health Canada reports that when compared to the rest of the nation, First Nations and Inuit people have 1.5 times the rate of heart disease, 3 to 5 times the rate of type 2 diabetes, and 8 to 10 times the rate of tuberculosis infection.

Yesterday, an Australian health expert from Darwin warned that the country's indigenous populations might be at greater risk for novel H1N1 infections.

Besides citing lack of exposure to similar virus and underlying conditions as possible risk factors, experts have also theorized that remote populations might have a genetic predisposition that makes them more susceptible to the virus, Olson said. But he expressed doubt that the factor is playing a role in Canada's current outbreak.

The signals coming out of Canada are worrying, he said. "The less developed world may have a terrible experience with this, though there is a lot of coughing and sneezing in the rest of the world," Olson said.

Danuta Skowronski, MD, a physician and epidemiologist at the University of British Columbia, told CIDRAP News that over the past few years, circulation of seasonal H1N1 viruses in North America has been patchy, and people in remote communities are likely to have had less exposure to the viruses than have people living in urban settings.

There's still much that researchers don't know about possible cross-protection against the novel H1N1 virus from exposure to previous H1N1 strains, she said. Though researchers have identified antibody markers and determined that seasonal vaccination offers little protection, they still haven't gauged the cell-mediated response—which can offer protection during severe infections—afforded by exposure to previous H1N1 strains, Skowronski added.

Public health officials will also be looking for environmental factors that might be contributing to the infections in the First Nations and Inuit groups, she said. For example, large numbers of people living in one household may have greater exposure to the virus. "This all needs to be assessed, because we're picking up possible signals of concern," Skowronski said.

Plus4 · Post by **Plus4** » Tue Aug 04, 2009 6:01 pm

Good Grief it's summer is it not...maybe where you live but in Alberta today it is cold... From plus 30 to
plus 10 C..rain in the forecast for the 5 days
Mother nature has been very nasty in Alberta..

In Calgary Saturday a little toddler was killed (By the Calgary tower) by sheet metal that flew off a construction site roof during a freak wind storm..
Same storm was responsible for the death and injuries at the Alberta Jamboree...
Sunday night another powerful storm came our way ..
Here is a short clip a fellow posted of the storm..NO raining men just hail...

http://www.theweathernetwork.com/your_w ... eos/upload
The winds were high...Hail pounded our homes...The storm happened at 2am..Thought best that I should
put on a bra on and
pack a getaway backpack

just in case we would have to leave in a hurrry... You know important stuff that old diva queen's

need like my purse... makeup.. 3 change of clothes..

We are lucky in Airidre..Things got a Little messy and lots of gardens fields etc. are ruined but thankfully and most important no injuries or loss of life..
We live in Hail alley so expect these storms but they just seem more intense than normal...
How has Mother Nature been treating you this summer...

chico98 · Post by **chico98** » Tue Aug 04, 2009 7:19 pm

FRIGGEN HOT
FEELS LIKE 45 DEGRESS
SWUELTERING

CHICO

ronald · Post by **ronald** » Tue Aug 04, 2009 7:55 pm

I guess if we had summer, it was those three days back in June. Our furnace has been running at least once or twice each week all summer. Lots of rain... everyday... at least there is no forest fire threat this year with all this wet stuff.

I worry about mold though. So many people have colds and some kinds of flu.. The clinic is not taking any tests as a routine anymore. Kleenex seems to be flying off the shelves.

GreatOwl · Post by **GreatOwl** » Tue Aug 25, 2009 11:03 pm

we have not had the furnace running, but here is Wisconsin it has been getting down into the 40's at night. Several days we could not peek above 66.... It might say we had a high of 66, but that is usually only for about 15 minutes

northmb · Post by **northmb** » Thu Aug 27, 2009 11:59 am

It's only plus 2C here this morning - but at least the sun is finally shining! This has been the worst summer ever!

Plus4 · Post by **Plus4** » Thu Sep 24, 2009 9:46 pm

We are in a heat wave... I likey

'Record-shattering kind of day'.... Yahooo

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/calsun/09092 ... lts_record

Youarethere · Post by **Youarethere** » Fri Sep 25, 2009 3:06 pm

I live in NJ but work in NY so temps are only off by a few. It's about 70 in NY and 75 in NJ. Too cold for me, anything under 80 is winter, YUCK!!!!

. I hate coats, shoes but most of all SOCKS!

ronald · Post by **ronald** » Fri Sep 25, 2009 8:28 pm

Shirt sleeve weather here... Beautiful very hot fall day.. We're finally getting all the summer we missed in July and August.

Perhaps a forerunner to no snow this winter.... Nah!

northmb · Post by **northmb** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 1:22 am

going down to minus three here tonight - and earlier this evening I actually saw the dreaded "s" word! At least it didn't last long and melted as it hit the ground!

Plus4 · Post by **Plus4** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 2:45 pm

I am seeing that dreaded S word too Sherry....

Least you have a ticker and I am happy for you

... but I don't have one

northmb · Post by **northmb** » Sat Oct 03, 2009 2:04 pm

Thanks Sylvia! Just knowing when we'll be back in PV helps! We didn't get much of a summer up here at all and now that the cold has arrived so early I need something to focus on!

Hope you get away somewhere warm too!

northmb · Post by **northmb** » Tue Oct 06, 2009 12:05 pm

OMG - the ground is covered in snow this morning!!

This is way too early for that - especially after the summer we just didn't have! I think I'm going to go back to bed and hide under the covers!

Plus4 · Post by **Plus4** » Tue Oct 06, 2009 8:54 pm

We had some of that stuff too but it is melting...more on the way though

Sherry
I bet while you are hiding under your covers you are dreaming of your PV vacation...

Here is a smiley for you ...

ronald · Post by **ronald** » Wed Oct 07, 2009 12:53 am

It has rained here pretty much everyday for the last couple of weeks. Not benefiting anybody... even the ducks are gone.

On the other hand sure is nice to be living where earthquakes are only seen on TV.

smitty · Post by **smitty** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 7:55 pm

We had our first frost warning for Southern Ontario last night .

helenf · Post by **helenf** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 2:44 pm

It is snowing like a son of a biscuit here in Calgary today. Took me an hour to get to work (usually 10 - 15 minutes). The roads are terrible. Yesterday we broke temperature records as it was minus 16 before the windchill. The coldest October 12th on record previously was minus 13 back in 1928.

OMG it's going to be a long winter. Sigh

Helen

Michael183 · Post by **Michael183** » Sun Oct 18, 2009 2:58 am

Chilly and raining in Banff.....one week to go.......

northmb · Post by **northmb** » Sun Nov 01, 2009 2:42 pm

minus 16 right now - with the windchill last night made for a tough time for the little trick or treaters!

smitty · Post by **smitty** » Mon Nov 09, 2009 9:12 pm

Indian summer is here in Southern Ontario - 18 celcius today ! Old man winter hasn't struck yet . Here is a fun site for temps in your town - Obama and others will show you how to dress . Type in your city and choose the character .

http://obama-weather.com/Obama/m/CAXX0504

How Coooold is it where you are?

Greetings From NY & NJ

Weather Words

Uggghhhhh

Sunscreen Please