(Photo: Qld Health)
September 1, 2015
A disease strain that was removed from the annual Australian influenza vaccine three years ago is contributing to Queensland’s worst flu outbreak on record.
Queensland Health said today they received 18,600 influenza notifications between January 1 and August 30, but 48 per cent of these had occurred in the last three weeks.
About 70 per cent are for Influenza B, which is split into two strains, “Phuket” and “Brisbane”.
The Brisbane strain is seen as a secondary disease that usually only affects about 5 per cent of flu sufferers.
However, Queensland Health says this year it appears to be 25 per cent higher.
The 2015 Southern Hemisphere vaccine, set by the World Health Organisation in February and funded by the federal government, covers the Influenza A “Switzerland” and “California” strains and “Phuket” B Strain.
The Brisbane B strain was included in Australian flu vaccinations between 2010 and 2012 but was removed when it appeared to have died down.
Queensland’s peak flu season is usually between May and October.
“It is difficult to predict when the flu season will be over but figures suggest we are nearing or have reached the peak,” Queensland Health’s Dr Sonya Bennett said today.
Dr Bennett, the executive director of the department’s communicable diseases unit, said the resurgence of the Brisbane B strain had contributed to the spike in flu rates.
“Back in February there was no indication that the B Brisbane strain would be as significant as it is this year,” she said.
Dr Bennett said authorities would observe the prevalence of the Brisbane B strain in the northern hemisphere’s flu season before determining if it should be included in next year’s local vaccine.
It would be up to Commonwealth health bodies to determine if a four-strain vaccine could be widely distributed to the population, she added.
South Burnett doctors southburnett.com.au spoke to today said there appeared to have been a slight increase in flu cases in the region over the last month, but it was not extraordinary.
“We always get a bit of an upswing in ‘flu around the Ekka,” one doctor said.
“That’s usually because locals go down to Brisbane and bring it back with them.”
