Cindy MacDougall
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Jan 05/00) - It coughs like the flu. It sneezes like the flu. It even aches like the flu. But the bug that has put many Yellowknifers in their bed this holiday season is not the influenza virus.

"It's a virus called para-influenza," said chief medical health officer Andre Corriveau.

"It has similar symptoms to the flu, but not the same rate of complications such as pneumonia."

Corriveau said he does not know how many people are suffering from the bug because his office was closed for the holidays.

However, he said many people he knows caught the virus over the holidays.

Yellowknife resident Peter Hart caught the flu-like virus two days after Christmas and was still recovering at home Monday.

"I've been very tired, coughing a lot and finding it hard to draw a breath," Hart said.

"Now it's progressed to more cold-like symptoms."

Hart said he doesn't usually catch the flu.

"I wasn't sick at all last year," he said.

Dr. David Butcher, a family physician in Yellowknife, said the waiting room at his clinic has been full of people coughing and sneezing their way through the Christmas season.

"I wouldn't call it an epidemic, but it could be a mini-epidemic," said Butcher. "What seems to set this one apart from others (viruses) is length."

Butcher said some people may need two to three weeks to completely recover.

Corriveau said people vaccinated against influenza may not be safe from this impostor bug.

"The flu vaccine protects against the influenza virus, not this one," he said, "so there is no immunity given against this virus."

Corriveau also said the real flu might visit the 'knife this month.

"Influenza is going around in the south, so as people return from holidays in southern Canada, we may have an outbreak in January."

If you're already suffering, Butcher suggested lots of rest, liquids and acetaminophen tablets for fever and pain. He also said healthy eating will help you get over the illness quicker.

Hart said he may take one more day off from work for his recovery.

"But I'm on the mend now," he said.