Canada's response to H1N1 effective

OTTAWA, Dec. 29 (UPI) -- Canadian health officials say their actions during the H1N1 pandemic were effective but communications were a challenge among jurisdictions and time zones.

The report by the Public Health Agency of Canada and Health Canada on the lessons learned during the H1N1 pandemic in 2009 concluded strengths can be identified in all nine areas of pandemic readiness and response capacity.

The National Microbiology Laboratory in Canada was called on for laboratory assistance and five public health agency scientists helped with testing in Mexico -- where the influenza strain was first identified -- during the course of six weeks.

Due to the laboratory's work, Canada was the first country to characterize the entire genomic sequence of the pandemic H1N1 influenza virus -- a significant contribution to international scientific understanding of this novel strain.

The first case of H1N1 in Canada was identified on April 26, 2009. As knowledge of the H1N1 virus evolved, information to Canadians also evolved, which, at times, contributed to uncertainty and anxiety among some Canadians, the report said.

As one key informant noted, health officials "dealt with constantly evolving knowledge and evidence requiring it to adjust its advice and manage the flow of information in "real time" across 14 jurisdictions, each with different needs and capacities and spread across six time zones, the report concluded.