‘Super’ flu hits 40,000 Aussies

Australians are warned that they could catch a brutal strain of the flu as cases of the disease reach 100 times higher than they were last year.

There have already been more than 40,000 cases of laboratory-proven influenza so far in 2023, with more than 8173 cases diagnosed in the first half of May alone, according to the Australian Government’s National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System.

Aussie Pharma Direct managing director Daniel Seldon said that nearly everyone would be impacted by the illness this winter if people didn’t get vaccinated.

“There’s a very high chance that you will get it, I got it,” he said. “For me it was a week flat on my back and about three weeks recovering from the symptoms.”

More than three quarters (77 per cent) were influenza A, which has been termed the “kindy flu”, not because of its effects but because the disease has swept thorough early childhood centres and preschools.

The highest rate of infection in people is those aged five to nine, followed by those aged under four and those aged 10-14 years.

Despite the high number of children contracting the flu, they are among the least vaccinated with less than six per cent of those under five having received a flu vaccination, something Mr Seldon described as a “problem”.

To try and prevent children bringing home unwanted germs, Mr Seldon advises parents to make sure that they are sanitising their hands as the “first thing” after school.

It appears that parents are already taking charge, with Aussie Pharma Direct noting a 200 per cent increase over the past two weeks in the sale of face masks, sanitiser, and the new dual rapid antigen test kit which tests for Covid-19 and the influenza A and B strains.