Double Flu Cases, worst season in yrs - Qld

Queensland Health has declared the worst flu season in the last five years as the number of cases doubles in two weeks. Four-thousand Queenslanders were diagnosed with influenza just last week, compared with more than 2,000 on August 1. One of Brisbane's public hospitals, the Prince Charles Hospital, said it had been admitting three to four patients with influenza symptoms a day for the past three weeks.

Medical advisor for Infectious Diseases Communicable Diseases Branch Christopher Coulter said people should take extra precautions ahead of tomorrow's (16 August) Ekka holiday in Brisbane. "Influenza can be prevented, when we think about going to events where there's lots of people, hygiene is important," Dr Coulter said.  "If you're sick, try and keep away from others until you've recovered.  "We don't know when the peak will be."

Hospitalisations have also doubled in the past two weeks with 2,145 public hospital admissions for the flu so far this year, compared to 1,324 on August 1. There have been 19,216 notifications of influenza so far this year. Of those, 76 per cent of notifications were influenza A and the rest were influenza B.

Queensland Health has delivered more than 800,000 free vaccines around the state for high-risk individuals.

Research conducted by the Australian Child Health Poll earlier this year found a third of Queensland parents would not vaccinate their children against the flu because of misconceptions about safety of the vaccine.

Source: www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-15/flu-cases-queensland-doubled-in-two-weeks-worst-season-in-years/8808820, viewed 15 August 2017