"I think the fact that he went over, because his sons were there, I think that might have just been a little icing on the cake," Eunice Robinson said.

With troubling outbreaks now emerging in Italy, South Korea and Iran, and U.S. health officials warning Tuesday it's inevitable it will spread more widely in America, the question is: Did the world use that time wisely and is it ready for a potential pandemic?

"Our experience with SARS was that it's not great to make stuff up as you go along," Dr. Michael Gardam explained.

So far, more than 3,200 cases of flu have been reported across Canada since the end of August.

The Global Preparedness Monitoring Board, World Bank and the World Health Organization warned that epidemic-prone viral diseases like Ebola, flu and SARS are increasingly tough to manage in a world dominated by lengthy conflicts, fragile states and forced migration.

"I never would have thought in a million years that a flu would take somebody down like this."

This year, about 430,000 doses were ordered and they have all been distributed.

"Seven out of 10 unvaccinated cases could have been prevented, had those individuals instead chosen to be vaccinated," said the BC CDC.

This year's flu vaccine is much more effective than last year's, Canadian researchers have found.

According to a report released by the health unit Wednesday, there were 22 laboratory-confirmed cases of Influenza A between January 6 and January 12.