Criteria for H1N1 vaccine continues to broaden

Criteria for high-priority groups eligible for H1N1 vaccinations have expanded.

Labrador-Grenfell Health's revised criteria is based on the vaccine shipments received for the province, it said Nov. 5.

"We'll keep expanding the criteria as we get the vaccine in," Dr. Muna Ar-Rushdi told the Pen last week. "It all depends on how much we are able to get, and we are expecting to be able to get larger shipments."

The expanded high-priority list includes the following:

- Individuals between 25-39 years old with chronic respiratory diseases (asthma, chronic bronchitis, emphysema, cystic fibrosis), for which the health authority requires proof of active treatment;

- Individuals undergoing active cancer treatment (intravenous chemotherapy or radiation), which includes those who have had transplants within the past two years or anyone on the transplant waiting list with a referral from their physician;

- Pregnant women in the first half of the pregnancy (up to 20 weeks), who would receive adjuvanted vaccine, rather than pregnant women in the second half of their pregnancy (20-40 weeks); and

- School children from kindergarten to Grade 3, in addition to the children previously vaccinated in remote and isolated communities.

According to Labrador-Grenfell Health, all K-3 students well enough to attend school clinics were scheduled to be vaccinated as of Nov. 6.

"When we get more vaccine, we look at what high-priority groups are left over from the first round of immunizations," Dr. Ar-Rushdi said. "Then we look at the next groups and expand to those."

Labrador-Grenfell Health is no longer testing for H1N1 because it's known to be on the Northern Peninsula, but those cases admitted to hospital with severe illness continue to be tested to help define a treatment.

Of the testing conducted to date the health authority is seeing other viruses spring up, particularly parainfluenza, a virus which carries similar symptoms to H1N1.

Dr. Ar-Rushdi said the viruses are so similar it is easy to confuse one for the other.

"Generally the supportive treatment for all of them is the same: you take your fever-reducing medication, you take your Tylenol, you rest, you take your fluids," she said. "The prevention methods are the same; they apply to all respiratory viruses."

H1N1 is generally a mild illness which can mimic parainfluenza, Dr. Ar-Rushdi said.

She said people who have contracted H1N1 are still at risk to contract the parainfluenza, which the body will counteract with a different immunal response.

"You can have several viruses circulating at the same time, and winter season is a very common time for you to get the cold viruses, the influenza viruses, the gastro-intestinal viruses all circulating at different levels," Dr. Ar-Rushdi said. "But there may be one dominating the picture at one time. So right now we have H1N1 really dominating."

According to the Public Health Agency of Canada's website, H1N1 is similar to seasonal influenza - which kills 4,000 Canadians each year to approximately 101 Canadians killed by the H1N1 virus as of Nov. 3.

Since Oct. 31, two Newfoundlanders have died after contracting H1N1. Both had underlying medical conditions.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced last week that the federal government will ship 1.8 million more doses of H1N1 vaccine to the provinces.

For more information regarding vaccination clinics visit www.lghealth.ca or call the Newfoundland and Labrador Healthline at 1-888-709-2929 or 1-877-896-0422.