This flu season could be bad but there's hope says disease specialist

A shift in the dominant strain of influenza could lessen the effectiveness of the annual vaccine and spell a rocky flu season for Canada, according to Dr. Isaac Bogoch, a professor at the University of Toronto in the Department of Medicine, and an infectious diseases specialist at the Toronto General Hospital. Article content

There is, however, one surefire way to lessen the impact. Article content Article content

“People should get their flu shot,” he said bluntly in an interview with National Post. “That’s the take-home point.” He continued: “My concern is that people hear there’s a mismatch with the flu virus and say, ‘I don’t think I’m going to get one.'”

But the virus comes in three forms, he said — two strains of Influenza A known as H1N1 and H3N2, plus Influenza B. And the an