Swine Flu Cases in Canada Rise to at Least 12

Canada has confirmed two new cases of swine flu in the province of Alberta and four in Ontario, bringing the country’s total to at least 12.

Dr. Andre Corriveau, Alberta’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, announced the cases today in a statement from the provincial capital of Edmonton. Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, has four confirmed cases, according to David Williams, the acting chief medical officer.

Ontario’s cases were “mild,” and the patients didn’t require hospitalization, Williams said. He said 20 more cases are being investigated.

Canada’s public health chief said yesterday that the other six Canadians with confirmed cases of swine flu have “recovered completely from their mild symptoms.” The first six cases were in Nova Scotia and British Columbia.

To contact the reporter on this story: Greg Quinn in Ottawa at gquinn1@bloomberg.net; Reg Curren in Calgary at rcurren@bloomberg.net.

By Greg Quinn and Reg Curren

Alberta confirms 2 cases of swine flu

Two human cases of swine flu have been confirmed in Alberta, the province’s chief medical officer of health said Tuesday.

Both individuals are male with a mild form of the illness. Neither was hospitalized.

One man from northern Alberta has fully recovered. A second man from Calgary is on the road to recovery.

Both men contracted the illness during recent trips to Mexico.

“These cases show that our monitoring and surveillance system is working as it should,” said Alberta chief medical officer of health Dr. André Corriveau in a news release. “It was only a matter of time until cases of human swine influenza would show up in Alberta. These cases are both mild, similar to recent cases identified in Nova Scotia and British Columbia, and across the United States.”

The announcement brings the total confirmed cases in Canada to eight.

On Sunday, Alberta issued a public health alert and is joining other Canadian provinces in monitoring cases of the illness.

Alberta is planning to get its provincial laboratory ready to start diagnosing swine flu by the end of the week. Currently, the national lab in Winnipeg is the only place in Canada that can make a positive diagnosis of the illness.

In Mexico, at least 152 people are suspected to have died from a new strain of the swine flu virus. All the confirmed Canadian cases have been mild, so far.

Source: http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2009/04/28/edm-alberta-swine-flu.html