Canadian researchers have noticed that flu season doesn’t seem to be occurring at its regular time and say it might take a few years before it begins to again. Researcher, pediatrician and Chief Executive Officer of the Eastern Ontario Health Unit, Dr. Paul Roumeliotis, says last year, Australia experienced its flu season about two months early, and then the same thing happened in North America. The peak of the flu season was November and December instead of being in January and February. Flu season is earlier in the year in Australia because their fall and winter is at the time when we are having our spring and summer.

Because flu season is just beginning now in Australia and North America usually mimics the trends of Australia, he predicts that Canada should expect flu season to come early in the next flu season as well. Early indications are that the flu peak will be early again in the next flu season.

The reason that flu season came about two months early isn’t known, but Dr. Roumeliotis suspects that a combination of previously being locked down in isolation and viral competition are to blame. As a result of the increased infection numbers last fall, children’s admissions were five times higher than usual for previous flu seasons, and with the run on children’s fever medication, it was hard to come by.