Calgary sees 5 times more cases of influenza than Edmonton as first numbers released this season

Flu season is underway in the province and new numbers from Alberta Health Services reveal the virus is hitting Calgary particularly hard.

There have been 257 laboratory-confirmed cases of Influenza A reported so far in the province — with 151 of those case recorded in the Calgary zone. Edmonton has seen only 29.

Of the 31 lab-confirmed cases of Influenza B, 25 of those were recorded in Calgary, while Edmonton had only three. Ninety people across the province have been hospitalized with the virus.

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Three people in Alberta have died who had lab-confirmed influenza — two of them in Calgary.

"It's important to remember the influenza disease data we capture in our weekly updates is considered a mere fraction of the influenza activity," said Dr. Gerry Predy, AHS's Senior Medical Officer of Health in a release.

"Not all cases of influenza are lab-confirmed and not all cases require hospitalization," he said.

In the first week since vaccination clinics opened, 157,543 people in the Calgary Zone rolled up their sleeves to be immunized against the flu. In total, 424,101 people have received the vaccination across the province.

North American's flu season typically mirrors the outbreak coming to an end in the southern hemisphere. Australia's H3N2 Influenza A strain this year was responsible for about 2½ times the usual number of infections, twice as many hospitalizations and twice as many deaths.

Flu shot clinics are still running across the province. Visit Alberta Health Services for more information for where and when shots are available.

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