Three suspected H1N1 deaths in B.C., one confirmed: centre for disease control

There are now three suspected deaths linked to H1N1 in B.C., one in the Fraser Health Authority and two in the Vancouver Island Health Authority.

Only one case in the Interior remains confirmed.

As of today, there are 40 patients currently in hospital ICUs who have tested positive for influenza.

BC Centre for Disease Control says they are seeing an increasing, but not unexpected level of influenza activity this flu season.

They say H1N1 is unique in that there are a larger proportion of people in younger age groups admitted to the Intensive Care Unit due to influenza than usually seen.

Watch: B.C.’s chief doctor on flu vaccine

Provincial Health Officer Dr. Perry Kendall says they ordered 1.4million doses of vaccine back in February and still have a few thousand doses left.

“But if demands continues, supply is not inexhaustible,” says Kendall. “It is possible that at some point in time that the supply could become exhausted because it is finite.”

Kendall says they have been talking to flu vaccine manufacturers that do not produce much more than they can sell because they do not want to get left with warehouses full of unsold stock.

“Last year we ordered 1.3 million doses and we had 90,000 doses returned to us that we could not use so that was half a million dollars at least that was wasted.”

With H1N1 sickening thousands in B.C. already, the window of the vaccine’s effectiveness is closing.

“It is not too late to get the vaccine still,” says Dr. Danuta Skowronski with BC Centre for Disease Control. “Although clearly the further we go into the outbreak, there are diminishing returns on the benefits that you are likely to accrue if you are doing it after the peak rather than beforehand.”

Watch: Demands increase for flu vaccine

READ MORE: Fraser Health says severe cases of H1N1 flu seen in Alberta popping up here