A sign advertising the availability of flu shots is taped onto a door of a Duane Reade in New York, January 14, 2013. Influenza has officially reached epidemic proportions in the United States, with 7.3 percent of deaths last week caused by pneumonia and
A sign advertising the availability of flu shots is taped onto a door of a Duane Reade in New York, January 14, 2013. Influenza has officially reached epidemic proportions in the United States, with 7.3 percent of deaths last week caused by pneumonia and the flu, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

At least three provinces in Canada now have patients inflicted with the rare enterovirus D68. These are in Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario.

Toronto Star reported 14 cases have been confirmed in the Hamilton region, four at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) in Ottawa, and one case each in Windsor and in Toronto.

Some of the patients have recovered and been discharged.

Allen Heimann, local medical officer of health of Windsor Regional Hospital, said that while the flu season usually begins in December, it would be best that the children still get vaccinated, and as much as possible, this early.

"If there are two serious cases of flu out there and the flu shot can prevent one of them, it's a wise move," Toronto Star quoted Heimann.

David Musyj, Windsor Regional Hospital chief executive, said the hospital continues to experience an increased number of paediatric patients coming to the emergency department, needing to be admitted.

Once a child gets sick and shows signs of severe distress with laboured and fast breathing, Matet Nebres, spokeswoman for the Hospital for Sick Children advised parents to immediately take them to the closest emergency department.

Musyj reiterated visiting restrictions continue to apply against children from visiting paediatric patients at the hospital in order to manage and control the spread of the virus.

Last week, the Public Health Agency of Canada alerted the country has more than 4,000 infectious diseases that doctors, pediatricians and epidemiologists of the virus are now also sweeping across the United States. The agency urged the medical specialists to monitor cases in their respective jurisdictions.

First identified in 1962 in California, EV-D68, as with most viruses, spreads from person to person when an infected person coughs, sneezes, or touches contaminated surfaces. Most susceptible to contract the EV-D68 are children, particularly aged five years old and below, as well as those who have existing respiratory troubles, such as allergies or asthma.

Most start with common cold symptoms of runny nose and cough. Some may also have fever. The most severe cases will indicate difficulty breathing or wheezing.

EV-D68 has been rarely reported in the U.S. in the last 40 years. There have been no known deaths so far from the 2014 virus.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), over 200 people across the U.S. had tested positive for EV-D68 from mid-August to Tuesday. It expects the figure to rise. Moreover, more people have been hospitalized because of the virus versus the same period in 2013.