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Both Australia and New Zealand are reporting heavy seasonal flu activity this year, with New Zealand having difficulty fully staffing some hospitals due to health care workers out with the flu.
Even seasonal flu can exact a major toll on individuals, and society, as this report from The Sydney Morning Herald tells us.
Doctors baffled by worst flu in years
Bellinda Kontominas Medical Reporter
July 28, 2007IT HAS forced the cancellation of an opera performance and led to long queues at doctors' waiting rooms.
The worst cold and flu season in years is clearly taking its toll.
According to NSW Health, 836 people died of pneumonia across the state between June 1 and July 6. Pneumonia often develops after severe cases of flu.
In the past week, 111 people sought treatment for flu at hospital emergency departments across the state, more than double the number for the same period last year. Thousands more each week are seeking relief from their GPs.
Experts are unsure why this season's flu is so severe. "There is a significant amount of influenza activity and an increase in the number of cases presenting to emergency and in laboratories this year," said Dr Dominic Dwyer, a medical virologist from Westmead Hospital. "It has been the worst we've had in several years."
Dr Dwyer said it was difficult to know why so many people were falling victim to influenza viruses, the symptoms of which include fever, headache, sore throat and severe tiredness.
"It's hard to know whether this is due to a particularly virulent strain, but certainly there have been some deaths in the past few weeks."
Older people and those with low immunity were more likely to be among those worst affected, he said. Dr Dwyer said it was not too late for people to be vaccinated against flu, but it should be done as soon as possible as it generally took two weeks after the injection for the body to develop immunity.
The most common respiratory viruses identified in hospitals this season are influenza A and respiratory syncytial virus.
