By Romy Stephens
This year’s flu season in Cardinia Shire has come about earlier than usual and local health experts are warning residents to be wary of the unique conditions.
According to the latest figures from the Department of Health and Human Services’ Local Government areas surveillance report, the number of influenza cases reported in Cardinia this year is over three times higher than the total number of cases in 2018.
A number of GPs and nurses from health clinics within the shire said these statistics reflect what they have witnessed.
Dr Stephen Newman from Pakenham Superclinic said the onset of this flu season was unusually early.
“We’ve had a lot of flu and it’s been a lot earlier in the season then you would normally see.”
“The main flu season is August to September so this has been very early for the flu to be here,” Dr Newman said.
Dr Newman says reasons for this aren’t entirely clear, but one theory is that the flu virus has mutated and vaccines have not covered this.
“When you do a flu vaccination, it’s a best guess. So they look at previous years, they look at Europe and then they choose four strains that they think are going to be covered.
“The question that hasn’t been proven yet is, is this a mutated flu that wasn’t covered by the vaccine at all?
“We’ve only just started the season so the chances are it could be pretty bad.”
It is already the regions second-worst flu season since records began in 1991, despite the season not being over yet. This year, 591 cases have been reported. In 2018, there were 186 cases reported and 891 in 2017.
Across Victoria, 50 people have died from the flu since January this year, comprised of 47 adults (44 elderly) and three children.
The national death toll for 2019 currently sits at 231.
The latest Victorian Weekly Influenza Report shows that cases since January this year are tracking over nine times higher than the same time last year. Influenza Type A has been the most common among patients, making up 88 per cent of notified cases across the state.
Cassie Samarasekara, a registered nurse from Pakenham Medical Clinic, said the clinic was forced to restock vaccinations early in the flu season.
“I couldn’t keep up with the number of people coming in at the start of the season, sometimes we had a week or two with no [available] flu shots at all,” Ms Samarasekara said.
“We had about 100 in two days.”
Ms Samarasekara also said more parents were coming into the clinic this year to have their children vaccinated.
This year, the Victorian Government is offering free immunisations to eligible members of the community. These include, children (aged between 6 months to 5 years), pregnant women, people aged 65 and over, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders aged 15 years and over, and people with chronic medical conditions.
Other community members can still receive a vaccination, at cost, through a GP or pharmacy.
Dr Newman said people should keep an eye on their symptoms and get their immunisation if they haven’t yet.
“If people are unwell they should stay home, because it’s very contagious. I think a lot of people still go to work or feel they need to go to work and that’s when it does get passed on.”
“The other thing is the immunisations. It’s still not too late to be immunised so people should still be considering getting an immunisation if they haven’t had it.”
For more information on how to get an immunisation, visit https://www.cardinia.vic.gov.au/info/20008/children_youth_and_seniors/67/immunisations_and_flu_vaccinations
