Spread of ’flurona’ a threat to Aussie kids
THERE are growing concerns among health professionals over the impact rising flu cases are having on Australian kids.
The nation is going through a “flurona” after Covid measures and border closures virtually stopped influenza from spreading over the last two years.
It has led to renewed calls for parents to book their kids, especially those five years or younger, in for a flu jab, with vaccination numbers down on previous years.
The Royal Children’s Hospital lab in Melbourne has revealed a 400 to 500 per cent
increase in flu cases over the last two weeks alone.
The hospital’s medicine chief, Tom Connell, said that several children had been hospitalised after contracting the virus.
“I’m concerned because as a paediatrician I think the surge increase is going to continue,” Mr Connell said.
“In the vast majority of flu cases it will be a relatively mild illness, but there’s still about 1 to 2 per cent of children who require medical care in hospital.
“Some of those children will become particularly unwell due to complications of influenza, the most significant of which will be on the heart and the brain.”
The hospital also urged parents to get their kids vaccinated as influenza was its main cause of admissions for children under five before
Covid. But the flu is not just solely affecting children’s health, with schools across the state reverting to remote learning due to staff being taken out by either influenza or Covid.
There is also a huge surge of flu cases in NSW, with the state recording 6820 cases so far this month.
In Queensland flu cases have increased by more than 130 per cent in the last week alone.
Queensland Children’s Hospital infectious disease physician Angela Berkhout is worried about children catching the virus, especially kids two years or younger who have low levels of immunity due to Covid restrictions.
“People think, ‘I‘ve got a well child, they’ve got no underlying medical problems so my child will be fine’. Unfortunately, it’s unpredictable,” she told the ABC
“We know that there are children who’ve been previously fit and healthy who unfortunately catch influenza and have severe disease and complications related to influenza.”
The state’s health minister, Yvette D’Ath, has previously said she will ask the federal government for free or subsidised flu shots for more people.