A KILLER flu that’s sweeping the US could end up Down Under. The influenza season has hit early and hard in the United States.
Twenty children have died from the H2N3 virus that has swept across most of the country, there are vaccine shortages, and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has declared a state of emergency.
There have already been five times as many cases reported in New York as there were in the entire flu season last year, and it’s not clear if the season has yet peaked.
Golden Globe winner Hugh Jackman is among those hit, and he said he was still battling the strain that had “swept the entire west coast” of the US.
The Australian Medical Association said the overseas experience was a “forewarning” for Australia.
“Last time the flu season peaked early (in the US) there were 50,000 deaths,” he said.
“We do tend to parallel the Northern Hemisphere in the south so it’s a forewarning that we need to get in early and vaccinate this year. “
Dr Hambleton said the flu would still come in our winter, but that widespread vaccination would protect the vulnerable and reduce the effects in the healthy.
Vaccinations are tailored each year to match the expected strains that develop, mutate, and travel around the world.
The virulent Influenza A strain is the most common, but Influenza B and the H1N1 swine flu are still active.
Influenza Specialist Group chairman, virologist Dr Alan Hampson said they can never be sure what the upcoming flu season will hold but that the situation in the US “does tend to alert us to the fact we may well suffer something similar” and that experts were “watching with interest”.
“We really can’t predict what’s going to happen. It’s best to anticipate it could be a bad season particularly for those prone to bad outcomes if they do contract influenza,” he said.
“We will soon be heading into the vaccination time. From what I understand from colleagues overseas the vaccine we’ll have should be a very good match for the strains circulating in other parts of the world.”
Dr Hampson said there were also outbreaks in Hong Kong, and that south-east Asian influenzas often flowed in to Australia.
The specially formulated vaccine will be available in March and will protect against Influenza A (H2N3), Influenza B, and swine flu.
Tens of thousands of Australians get the flu each year, many are hospitalised and some die. The most vulnerable are older people, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, pregnant women and anyone with an underlying health problem.