But Predy says people shouldn't be alarmed with the two new cases. Again, I think we had been hoping the number of cases would get down to a more usual number, but it doesn't appear that that's happened yet. With these two cases, that brings us to three for this month. So that appears to be continuing along at the high rate that we had in the fall. Predy said it's not entirely unexpected to have more new cases at this time of the year with lots of viral and respiratory infections going around.
People are more at risk of getting meningitis if they have a viral infection already.
He doesn't think more immunization programs are needed. Since the outbreak was detected, Capital Health has launched two separate vaccination campaigns. The first, in February, delivered shots to 210,000 people. The second, that started in November, had 59,600 takers. Last week, Health Canada said Edmonton is the meningitis capital of the nation with about six cases per 100,000 in the region.