Plea to vaccinate kids as flu death toll soars

QUEENSLAND’S flu death toll has risen to at least 51 as an immunisation expert issued a plea to parents of young children to get them vaccinated against the virus.

Although the youngest influenza-associated death in the state this year was aged in their early twenties, Queensland Health’s immunisation program medical director Jonathan Malo said children under five were at a high risk of flu complications. He said 2203 laboratory confirmed flu notifications had been recorded in Queensland children younger than five this year, including 169 who required admission to public hospitals with the flu. Ten ended up in intensive care.

He said rates of flu in young children per head of population were much higher than any other age group this year.

Children are also known as “super spreaders”.

Queensland Health data shows 23,947 laboratory-confirmed cases of the flu so far in 2019 – almost five times higher than the five-year average for this time of year.

In 2018, 15,694 cases of flu were recorded in Queensland during the 12 months – 8253 fewer than this year with the peak of the season yet to hit.

Of the 51 confirmed influenza-associated deaths so far in 2019, 28 have been people aged in their eighties or over. Another three were aged under 50, five were in their 50s, six in their 60s and nine in their 70s.

As expected, most of the deaths have occurred in the heavily populated areas of Brisbane and surrounds with the Metro North Hospital and Health Service recording 13 and Metro South, 10.

ABOUT 300 people have died from the flu this year but experts believe Australia’s “moderately bad” season has probably already hit its peak.

The flu season started early this year after a mild one in 2018, leading to significantly higher numbers of influenza cases than usually experienced by this point.

Influenza expert Professor Robert Booy (pictured) believes it will be a moderate flu season and not as severe as in 2017. The Immunisation Coalition chairman said the early start to this year’s flu season will probably mean an early peak, predicting the number of cases will begin to decline soon.

“My view is that it may be a moderately bad year with an early onset, but I can see evidence that it’s peaking, that it’s plateauing and it’s likely to start falling much sooner than usual,” he said.

Prof Booy, from the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance, said the flu season often peaked in August and September but he believed it had already peaked.

NSW Health’s director of communicable disease Vicky Sheppeard also described this flu season as moderate, saying the unprecedented numbers were due to the early start and followed an unusual amount of activity over summer.