ICU flu admissions already ahead of 2017

INTENSIVE care unit admissions for flu in Queensland have already overtaken last year’s horror flu season levels, which were the worst since the swine flu pandemic of 2009.

This time last year, 75 people had been admitted to an ICU. So far this year, there have been 78, with predictions the number won’t peak until August.

New AMA Queensland president Dr Dilip Dhupelia said while the number was on par with this time last year, it was hoped the peak would not be as high as the 247 ICU admissions across Queensland in August 2017.

He said of the 4437 flu diagnoses so far this year, there was a drop in the number of elderly and young children, showing the free vaccine was working.

“The group that is concerning me is 40- to 59year-olds. They are continuing to peak,” he said. “These are the people who have to pay for the flu shot, and they are also the group going to work (when contagious). The message is very clear that the flu doesn’t differentiate, it’s not just an elderly person virus.”

Dr Dhupelia said now was the time for people to get to their GP and get a vaccination ahead of the August peak.

The Queensland Health data came as new Australian research, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, revealed that intensive care unit admissions in last year’s flu season peaked at levels not seen since the swine flu pandemic of 2009.

The Alfred and Monash University research revealed that at its peak, pneumonia and sepsis accounted for 16 per cent of ICU admissions and 27 per cent of all ICU bed days in 2017.