# 5701
While influenza levels have returned to off-season baseline levels in most of the northern hemisphere, in temperate zones south of the equator places like Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and a good-sized chunk of South America are in the heart of their yearly flu epidemic.
While South Africa’s season appears to have already peaked, recent media stories out of Australia have suggested a continuing surge in flu cases over the past couple of weeks.
The most recent World Health Organization Influenza report states:
Australia and New Zealand and South Pacific
ILI consultations have continued to rise nationally in Australia along with notifications of laboratory confirmed influenza, most notably in South Australia, Queensland and New South Wales.
The distribution of virus types has varied somewhat between states. Nationally, influenza A(H1N1)2009 has accounted for the majority of virus detections; however, 85% of viruses detected in the state of South Australia have been influenza B. These accounted for the majority of influenza B virus reported from the country as a whole.
There numbers of confirmed cases of influenza reported through the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System is much higher than in the same period of 2010 (5,640 to date in 2011 vs. 1,088 for the same period of 2010).
In New Zealand, the rate of national ILI consultations has not crossed the baseline levels although some of the districts were well above the national average. For this week, influenza B virus was the predominant strain followed by influenza A(H3N2) virus.
The ISG (Influenza Specialist Group), consisting of medical and scientific influenza specialists from Australia and New Zealand, list their mission statement as:
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Increase understanding of the impact of influenza and its relationships to other infectious respiratory diseases.
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Reduce the public health impact of influenza through increased awareness among consumers and healthcare professionals and of best practice in the prevention and treatment of influenza.
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Based on scientific studies and available evidence, influence Australian policy development in the area of respiratory diseases.
Based on recent reports of increased flu activity, today (July 19th) the ISG has issued a flu alert for Australia, urging that people take precautions now to avoid the illness.
"Peak of the flu season is imminent, so take the necessary precautions now!"
The Influenza Specialist Group has just issued a press release, warning that increasing rates of influenza have been confirmed in several regions around Australia, and that the continuing trend indicates that the peak flu season is rapidly approaching.
However, there is still time for people, especially those in at-risk groups and those around them, to protect themselves by vaccination.
The ISG recommends that people in at-risk groups and healthy Australians who wish to avoid infection, see their GP and seek vaccination now in order to protect themselves and avoid passing the infection on to others. And while vaccination is the most effective way to prevent catching influenza, if you do contract influenza there are antiviral medications available on prescription that can shorten the length and reduce the severity of the illness. However these must be taken within the first two days of onset of symptoms.
The full press release can be found here: Flu Alert 2011
A fact sheet can be found here: Fact Sheet
Every year, influenza and flu-related complications are estimated to claim the lives of more than 2,500 Australians, yet the uptake of flu vaccine remains low.
According to the ISG:
Despite this, a recent survey of 1,120 people revealed that while 82 percent of respondents recognise that even healthy people would benefit from vaccination, nearly three quarters (72%) are unsure whether they will get the vaccination, almost half (42%) have never had the vaccination and around 5,400,000 adult Australians (35%) would definitely not be seeking vaccination this year.
Hence the renewed call for Australians to see their GP and get vaccinated in order to protect themselves and others during this year’s flu epidemic.
