Rankin Inlet (May 24/06) - While Baffin health officials impose measures to control a rise in flu-like illness, the worst of the flu season has passed in the Kivalliq.

Fred Montpetit, acting director of Health and Social Services for the Kivalliq, says health centres in the region reported only 15 flu-like cases last week, none of which tested positive for influenza.

"The Kivalliq is actually the quietest region (for flu) right now," Montpetit says.

That's not to say there haven't been flare-ups. Baker Lake had a major outbreak two weeks before Easter, when 173 cases of flu-like illnesses were reported and community health clinics had to be cancelled.

All told, the Kivalliq had 916 flu-like illnesses reported since September, though only 18 were actual influenza cases. Doctors and nurses typically test one in every five to 10 patients for the flu.

And while hospitals and clinics in the Baffin are enforcing mandatory hand-washing for visitors and masks for anyone with a cough, Montpetit says Kivalliq health workers remain vigilant. No one has to don a mask, but "hand-washing is 24/7, 365 days a year."

"You want to keep an outbreak from starting," he says.

Peak season for the flu may be past, but Montpetit says health centres in Rankin Inlet and Baker Lake see isolated flu cases all year round.