Only laboratory confirmed influenza cases are included. Detections of influenza nucleic acid detection, culture isolation, and enzyme immunoassay (EIA) are reported from Cadham Provincial Laboratory (CPL) and occasionally other laboratories. These reports are forwarded to Epidemiology and Surveillance (E&S) within 24 hours of confirmation. CPL also performs testing for other respiratory viruses including parainfluenza, RSV, adenovirus, rhinovirus, coronavirus, enterovirus, and bocavirus, which are reported to E&S on a weekly basis.
Hospitalizations, ICU submissions, and deaths in hospitals in influenza cases are extracted from the provincial data system, Admission, Discharge and Transmission. Deaths that occurred outside of hospitals are reported by the Public Health Office in each Regional Health Authority (RHA). The reason for the hospitalizations, ICU admissions or the cause of deaths does not have to be attributable to influenza. Instead, a temporal association with a positive influenza laboratory result is sufficient due to the requirement for timely reporting. Submissions are cleaned by E&S to remove duplicate submissions for the same patient within the same illness episode. In this report, only Manitoba residents are included.
The units of antiviral drugs, Oseltamivir and Zanamivor, dispensed from community retail pharmacies to Manitoba residents are reported to E&S from Drug Programs Information Network (DPIN) on a weekly basis. Antiviral drugs dispensed to in-patients or through nursing stations could not be included in this report due to lack of data.
As per the World Health Organization (WHO), all seasonal quadrivalentinfluenza vaccinesthat have egg-based or recombinant manufacturing processes, forthe2020/21seasonin the northern hemisphere contain:
*Of the four strains indicated, this strain is not included in the high-dose influenza vaccine for the 2020-21season.The decision to include specific fluvaccines as part of Manitoba’s Seasonal Influenza Immunization Program depends on a multitude of factors. For the 2020/210season, MHSC willoffer thefollowing fluvaccinesas part of its annual Seasonal Influenza Immunization Program(product composition to be confirmed following national allotment finalization):
Immunization data were extracted from PHIMS. The report includes clients who have received one or more valid doses of the influenza vaccine and who have active registration with Manitoba Health and Seniors Care (MHSC) at the time that the report is generated (i.e. it is not based on the number of doses in the registry divided by the population of Manitoba). This report coverage does not include the following: