Flu blamed for 2 deaths (People are coughing up blood)

A strain of flu has killed one man and one woman on the Garden Hill First Nation in Manitoba.

The H3N2 strain is spreading through the remote fly-in community, located on Island Lake about 610 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg.

One person died last week, and a second death was confirmed Thursday, said David Harper, a former chief of Garden Hill and current head of Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak, the regional chiefs organization for First Nations in northern Manitoba.

"People are coughing up blood," said Harper. "Is that a common flu? Absolutely not."

[link to www.cbc.ca]