Archives for January 9, 2019

Cases of influenza are continuing to ramp up across the country, with kids and teens bearing much of the brunt of the dreaded winter bug, say infectious diseases experts, predicting that the peak of the annual sneezing-coughing-feeling-miserable season is likely still several weeks away.

This year’s flu season has a far different profile than last year’s: it began earlier and the predominant circulating A strain is H1N1, the viral type that caused the pandemic in 2009-2010 but hasn’t made much of an appearance for the last few years.

Those previous seasons were dominated by H3N2, an influenza A strain that is particularly hard on older adults and which typically carries a higher risk of complications like pneumonia that can lead to hospitalization or death, said Dr. Danuta Skowronski, epidemiology lead of influenza and emerging respiratory pathogens at the BC Centre for Disease Control.

In contrast, H1N1 tends to target children and younger adults more than seniors — and flu-trackers like Skowronski say this season is no exception.

“This year in particular, we have expected that children under 19 years of age and non-elderly adults will be disproportionately affected … children because they are less likely to have protection (built-in immunity) from prior epidemics of H1N1.”

Indeed, the BCCDC’s surveillance of lab-confirmed cases of flu show that about one-third of all H1N1 detections so far this season have been in children nine years of age or younger, even though kids in that age range make up just 20 per cent of the province’s population.

While H1N1-predominant seasons tend to be milder overall at the population level compared to those characterized primarily by H3N2, individuals who get hit with either strain won’t detect much of a difference — both bring on fever, cough, general malaise and achy muscles and joints, she said from Vancouver.

“It’s a different season, different profile. I think this year we can anticipate that emergency rooms, out-patient visits will be greater because younger people are being affected by H1N1, but the overall impact of serious outcomes should be less this year compared to the last couple of seasons.”

As of Dec. 29, the most recent data available from the Public Health Agency of Canada shows there were 13,796 laboratory-confirmed influenza cases across the country, with the provinces and territories reporting 1,046 hospitalizations and 24 deaths. Most cases occurred in people under age 65.

Last season at that point, 11,275 cases of lab-confirmed flu had been reported.

Since September, PHAC says 414 children under age 16 have been hospitalized for flu, with the highest estimated rate of admission among kids under five years of age. That’s more than double the 195 logged during the same period in 2017.

Seventy-one of those kids had to be admitted to the ICU. At least one death has been documented by the network of 12 pediatric hospitals across the country that reports to PHAC, but for privacy reasons the agency does not release the exact number, saying only that there have been fewer than five.

However, these figures reflect only cases in which testing was performed; many more people who come down with the flu don’t seek medical assistance and therefore aren’t tested. That applies to data collected on both adults and children.

Canada’s merchandise trade deficit more than doubled in November as exports fell led by a drop in crude oil prices.

Statistics Canada said Tuesday that the country’s trade deficit increased to $2.1 billion in November compared with $851 million in October.

Economists had expected a deficit of $1.95 billion, according to Thomson Reuters Eikon.

“As expected, weaker domestic energy prices, culminating in production cuts, helped drive down crude oil exports in November,” TD Bank senior economist Fotios Raptis wrote in a report.

Total exports fell 2.9 per cent to $48.3 billion in November, the fourth consecutive monthly decline, as exports were down in eight of 11 sections.

Exports of energy products fell 9.2 per cent to $8.4 billion in November as crude oil exports fell 17.7 per cent due to a drop in prices. Excluding energy products, exports fell 1.4 per cent.

Meanwhile, total imports fell 0.5 per cent to $50.4 billion in November as imports dropped in seven of 11 product sections.

Imports of motor vehicles and parts fell 2.8 per cent to $8.9 billion, while imports of metal ores and non-metallic minerals fell 18.6 per cent to $1.1 billion.

Stephen Brown, senior Canada economist at Capital Economics, noted that non-energy export volumes fared poorly.

Export volumes dropped 1.8 per cent in November while import volumes fell 0.3 per cent.

“As things stand, net trade is on track to have made a neutral contribution to GDP growth in the final quarter,” Brown wrote in a report.

“With global and U.S. economic survey indicators softening in recent months, non-energy export volume growth looks set to slow this year.”

The trade data came ahead of the Bank of Canada’s interest rate announcement on Wednesday.

The central bank is expected to keep its key interest rate on hold when it releases its decision and updates its outlook for the economy in its monetary policy report.

Rising interest rates appear to be taking a toll on Canadians’ finances as the total number of insolvencies filed under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act increased by 5.2 per cent in November from the prior year.

The Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcies says the number of consumer insolvencies rose by 5.1 per cent, while business insolvencies increased by 8.9 per cent.

The Bank of Canada raised its key lending rate five times since the middle of 2017.

The number of insolvencies decreased by 2.5 per cent in November from October with bankruptcies falling by 8.2 per cent and proposals increasing by 2.1 per cent.

For the 12-month period ending Nov. 30, the number of bankruptcies and proposals grew by two per cent with consumer bankruptcies falling by five per cent and proposals increasing by 8.4 per cent. Consumer insolvency filings accounted for 97.2 per cent of total insolvency filings.

Business insolvencies decreased by 0.6 per cent, with the mining, oil and gas extraction and manufacturing sectors falling the most while construction and retail insolvencies sustained the greatest increases.

The number of insolvencies rose in all provinces except Nova Scotia in November compared with the same period a year earlier. Newfoundland and Labrador’s filings rose 11 per cent, followed by Alberta at 8.3 per cent. Quebec and Ontario grew by less than one per cent.

The Greater Montreal Real Estate Board says home sales in Quebec’s largest city climbed higher in December to hit a new record for the month.

The board says there were 2,825 home sales in Montreal in December based on the Centris provincial database, up three per cent from 2,755 in December 2017.

It says it was the 46th consecutive monthly sales increase.

Sales of single-family homes rose three per cent to 1,491 compared with 1,441 a year ago, while condominium sales increased two per cent to 993 compared with 973 a year earlier.

Sales of plexes, which include two to five units, slipped to 336 compared with 339 in December 2017, while the median plex price was up eight per cent at $525,000.

The median single-family home price increased seven per cent to $327,450, while the median condominium price rose three per cent to $272,863.