Australia: Swine flu looms: vaccination urged

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Time to ramp up the Australian fear levels again...

Swine flu looms: vaccination urged

JOSH GORDON

February 7, 2010

The federal government has warned Australia to brace for a ''second wave'' of swine flu that could strike earlier than usual, urging GPs to vaccinate as many people as possible before the onset of winter.

Chief Medical Officer Jim Bishop said he expected swine flu to be the dominant strain of flu this year, warning that the disease had accounted for 95 per cent of flu cases during the US winter.

''We don't know how it will pan out in Australia, but we expect the dominant strain will be swine flu, as in the United States,'' Professor Bishop said.

He said he would be writing to all GPs to ask them to promote vaccination, warning the current take-up rate of the free vaccine was still too low.

Professor Bishop said he believed the level of public alarm about the disease last year had been justified.

Swine flu has been associated with 191 deaths in Australia.

Professor Bishop said while symptoms were mild to moderate for most people, the flu put more people in hospital and intensive care, especially children.

''Compared to seasonal flu, it causes more hospitalisation, more hospitalisation in children under five, and more admissions to ICU with viral pneumonia,'' he said. ''In the 2009 season, 38 per cent of deaths from pandemic 2009 influenza occurred in people with no known risk factors and the median age of death was 53, compared with 83 from seasonal influenza.''

Professor Bishop said the return of children to school in the North American autumn had been associated with a substantial rise in the number of cases, an earlier start to the flu season and a higher peak in the number of cases.

The federal government has spent $120 million on 21 million doses of the pandemic (H1N1) 2009 vaccine to distribute across the country.

As of January 28, more than 6.6 million doses of the vaccine had been distributed across the states and territories as well as more than 241,000 prefilled syringes for use in children younger than three.

About 700 people were admitted to hospital with viral pneumonia last year, compared with 55 per year in previous years.

Professor Bishop urged people to get vaccinated. ''The risk of catching it might be low in numerical terms, but the consequences can be catastrophic.''

The Royal Australasian College of Physicians president, Dr , said the take-up of the vaccine had been lower than anticipated. ''In previous pandemics, the second wave has, in fact, been far more serious.''