SASKATOON — The incoming president of the Canadian Medical Association says Canadians need to be better educated about flu symptoms ahead of a possible resurgence of the H1N1 virus this fall. Dr. Ann Doig says the pandemic is "front of mind" for physicians, who are in Saskatoon for their 
annual meeting. She says there is a lot of information available to doctors through local health regions, but the public needs to be given more as flu season approaches. "Inevitably with something like this, there is a panic," says Doig, who has been practising family medicine in Saskatoon for 30 years. "It’s no different than in the summertime when we always see people who think they might have Lyme disease or think they might have West Nile. And really, when you listen to their description of their symptoms, very, very frequently the symptoms that they’re worried about have absolutely nothing to do with the disease that they’ve identified as being their concern," she says. "The same is true for the flu. We don’t want people to be given misinformation about influenza." As of last week, the number of deaths officially associated with the swine flu virus in Canada stood at more than 60, although health officials say most people with H1N1 suffer only mild illness.On Friday, a Montreal woman died of swine flu complications after she contracted the virus while pregnant. Fatiha Idrissi Kaitouni gave birth to a baby boy by caesarean section in June but had been on life support in a Montreal hospital ever since.
annual meeting. She says there is a lot of information available to doctors through local health regions, but the public needs to be given more as flu season approaches. "Inevitably with something like this, there is a panic," says Doig, who has been practising family medicine in Saskatoon for 30 years. "It’s no different than in the summertime when we always see people who think they might have Lyme disease or think they might have West Nile. And really, when you listen to their description of their symptoms, very, very frequently the symptoms that they’re worried about have absolutely nothing to do with the disease that they’ve identified as being their concern," she says. "The same is true for the flu. We don’t want people to be given misinformation about influenza." As of last week, the number of deaths officially associated with the swine flu virus in Canada stood at more than 60, although health officials say most people with H1N1 suffer only mild illness.On Friday, a Montreal woman died of swine flu complications after she contracted the virus while pregnant. Fatiha Idrissi Kaitouni gave birth to a baby boy by caesarean section in June but had been on life support in a Montreal hospital ever since.For further details visit as : http://thechronicleherald.ca/Canada/1137874.html
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