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from the coming-to-a-hemisphere-near-you? dept.
Worst flu Season on Record, Australia (emphasis in original):
According to statistics, the 2019 flu season is Australia's worst in recorded history with over 257,359 confirmed cases so far this year.
This record beat the previous one in 2017 with a total number of 251,163 influenza cases. Meanwhile, only 52,000 cases were confirmed in 2018.
"In terms of sheer numbers and the load on general practice and emergency departments, this is the worst flu season that's ever been," immunization expert Paul van Buynder said.
Local media has also reported 587 fatalities from influenza with a majority of elder people. On the contrary, only 73 died from the flu in 2018.
Australia capital Canberra confirmed 3,402 cases so far, which is worse than the total combined records from 2016 to 2018.
By point of comparison, the population of Australia is approximately 25 million people implying over 1.7% of the population came down with the flu.
Projecting from an estimated ~330 million people in the USA, that would mean over 5.7 million cases.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by boltronics on Sunday September 08 2019, @03:57AM (6 children)
Aussie here. I get the shots every year, but that didn't stop me getting the flu (type A) in Jan 2018 (which is our summer). Apparently it was not a strain the shots were protecting against.
Oddly enough, nobody in my workplace got it, and even my wife didn't catch it (and she uses trams all all time while I was riding everywhere at the time). I must have just walked past the wrong person on the street at one point - it's the only explanation we could think up.
Sometimes you just get unlucky. Then again, I've had no issues in 2017 and 2019, despite at least one colleague who sits just across from me probably having had the flu this year.
It's GNU/Linux dammit!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 08 2019, @12:05PM (2 children)
Do people always get the flu in the summer there?
(Score: 2) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Monday September 09 2019, @12:31AM (1 child)
A very few people get it in the summer, but the really big majority gets it June to August (ie winter).
It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
(Score: 2) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Monday September 09 2019, @12:34AM
We need an "edit" function. I meant to add that I've also had it in summer.
It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Sunday September 08 2019, @03:13PM (2 children)
Shots, no shots... that 1.7% rate is suspect.
I'm roughly 1/0.017 years old, and I certainly believe I, and everyone else my age, have caught the seasonal flu more than once...
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by gawdonblue on Monday September 09 2019, @01:16PM (1 child)
I've seen figures where the chance of getting the flu without a vax shot is ~1.5% and with shot ~1.0%, and a fatality rate ~0.1% of those infected.
If so, is it worth vaccination for most people? These flu strains are not super killers like smallpox, tetanus or polio for which vaccinations are a no-brainer.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday September 09 2019, @03:17PM
And... of those 0.1% fatalities, I'd wager that you can pick out >80% of them by eye as "at risk" - elderly, immune compromised, etc.
Sadly, those who need the flu risk reduction the most are also at highest risk for side effects from the vaccine...
🌻🌻 [google.com]