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Source: http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Study+aims+find+many+immune+H1N1/1958031/story.html
Study aims to find out how many in B.C. are immune to H1N1
By Amy O'Brian, Vancouver SunSeptember 3, 2009
The BC Centre for Disease Control is fast-tracking studies meant to give health officials a better idea of how many British Columbians are immune to the H1N1 flu virus and why it hits certain age groups harder than others.
One study is screening 1,000 British Columbians for the H1N1 antibody, which will give researchers a strong indication of what percentage of the population is immune to the virus.
There have been recent suggestions a large percentage of British Columbians are already immune to the virus.
But both Dr. Danuta Skowronski, physician epidemiologist with the BCCDC, and Dr. Perry Kendall, chief provincial health officer, said Wednesday those suggestions are overstated and unrealistic.
"Even without doing the survey, we know that the population will not have been saturated already. We know that the majority of the population will still not have immunity to the pandemic H1N1 virus," Skowronski said.
"That's just not how influenza works. We know that even when there's a new variant that's similar to previous variants, it circulates over several years before it finally burns out."
Recent information showed about 800 people in the province had tested positive for the H1N1 virus since May. Kendall says about one out of every 20 cases of the virus is confirmed by lab tests, which would mean about 16,000 people in B.C. have been infected so far.
Of all the people who visited their doctors in May and June with flu-like symptoms and wanted to be tested for H1N1, only about one-third tested positive for the novel virus. Kendall said about 40 per cent of the cases turned out to be "A" strains of human influenza, a few cases were "B" strains, and about 20 per cent were other viruses.
Results from the population immunity survey being done by the BCCDC won't be released until mid-October. Those results will be compared against baseline results from a similar survey conducted in the spring.
Skowronski said no more volunteers are required for the immunity survey, but volunteers in specific age groups are still needed for a different study, which will examine risk factors for the virus according to age.
Volunteers are required to give a blood sample and answer some brief questions. Researchers are still looking for volunteers in the age groups of 39 to 40, 49 to 51, 60 to 64, and 80 to 90.
Interested participants can call TASC Research Services at 604-584-8889 or e-mail tasc@tascresearch.com.
aobrian@vancouversun.com
Study aims to find out how many in B.C. are immune to H1N1
By Amy O'Brian, Vancouver SunSeptember 3, 2009
The BC Centre for Disease Control is fast-tracking studies meant to give health officials a better idea of how many British Columbians are immune to the H1N1 flu virus and why it hits certain age groups harder than others.
One study is screening 1,000 British Columbians for the H1N1 antibody, which will give researchers a strong indication of what percentage of the population is immune to the virus.
There have been recent suggestions a large percentage of British Columbians are already immune to the virus.
But both Dr. Danuta Skowronski, physician epidemiologist with the BCCDC, and Dr. Perry Kendall, chief provincial health officer, said Wednesday those suggestions are overstated and unrealistic.
"Even without doing the survey, we know that the population will not have been saturated already. We know that the majority of the population will still not have immunity to the pandemic H1N1 virus," Skowronski said.
"That's just not how influenza works. We know that even when there's a new variant that's similar to previous variants, it circulates over several years before it finally burns out."
Recent information showed about 800 people in the province had tested positive for the H1N1 virus since May. Kendall says about one out of every 20 cases of the virus is confirmed by lab tests, which would mean about 16,000 people in B.C. have been infected so far.
Of all the people who visited their doctors in May and June with flu-like symptoms and wanted to be tested for H1N1, only about one-third tested positive for the novel virus. Kendall said about 40 per cent of the cases turned out to be "A" strains of human influenza, a few cases were "B" strains, and about 20 per cent were other viruses.
Results from the population immunity survey being done by the BCCDC won't be released until mid-October. Those results will be compared against baseline results from a similar survey conducted in the spring.
Skowronski said no more volunteers are required for the immunity survey, but volunteers in specific age groups are still needed for a different study, which will examine risk factors for the virus according to age.
Volunteers are required to give a blood sample and answer some brief questions. Researchers are still looking for volunteers in the age groups of 39 to 40, 49 to 51, 60 to 64, and 80 to 90.
Interested participants can call TASC Research Services at 604-584-8889 or e-mail tasc@tascresearch.com.
aobrian@vancouversun.com