Michael Di Massa and Catholic Social Services

Syrian refugees: Catholic Social Services spokesman Michael Di Massa said Syrian refugees are vulnerable to the flu and colds. "They're just not used to the climate here, so they catch the cold, they catch the flu, according to CBC. They're not used to the strains of the virus," said agency spokesman Michael Di Massa. "They're in a short-term residence, which is probably not helping the situation," he said. "It like kids in school — if you have one kid in the classroom get sick, the other kids might get sick." Edmonton chief medical officer of health, Dr. Catholic Social Services estimates of half of the adults and most of their children have come down with a cold or the flu. Christopher Sikora, said the province provides regular checkups and flu shots for all refugees, but with so many arriving in a short time, it hard to keep up. "We have a group of individuals arriving in Canada who have underlying chronic disease, who come from an environment where things weren't very good, and travelling through influenza gastrointestinal virus season," he said. "It not every month you're going to have 450 people come from an unsafe environment." Dr. While refugees are screened medically before boarding a plane to Canada, no medical condition excludes them if it does not pose a health risk to Canadians. Christopher Sikora, Edmonton chief medical officer of health, says it not every month 450 people arrive in Edmonton from refugee camps and war zones. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.