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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: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 07 2019, @01:02PM (1 child)
~300 cases isnt a big deal
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday September 07 2019, @01:48PM
It's about a thousand times more. Fixed.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Informative) by EvilSS on Saturday September 07 2019, @01:34PM (2 children)
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday September 07 2019, @01:48PM (1 child)
Fixed.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 08 2019, @12:03PM
Is there any explanation for what happened there?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 07 2019, @02:12PM
Population density distribution in USA is quite different to Australia, you shall expect much greater effect in Great America.
(Score: 2) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Saturday September 07 2019, @04:45PM
During the Spanish flu outbreak, Australia closed its borders to curb the influx of sick people from abroad. They just have to do exactly the same, only to keep their germs in this time.
(Score: 2) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Saturday September 07 2019, @04:51PM
fatalities from influenza with a majority of elder people [...] estimated at ~330 Million people would mean that over 5.7 million people in the USA.'
So, most of Florida and Palm Springs would be devastated.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 07 2019, @04:54PM (2 children)
People are so fucking frail! Even the Aussies are falling down!
*cough* *cough* Oh my! Joe Biden touched my hair! This shit spreads over the internet.
Oh, And clean your fucking keyboards, you slobs!
(Score: 2) by driverless on Saturday September 07 2019, @11:05PM
Well yeah, 95% of all wildlife in Australia is designed to kill you, and now the germs have got into the act as well.
(Score: 2) by Coward, Anonymous on Sunday September 08 2019, @03:47AM
Most probably do stay home. So the number of confirmed cases is a lot smaller than the number of actual cases.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by captain normal on Saturday September 07 2019, @07:00PM (2 children)
The only concern I have is which way is this strain of flu heading? Is it the one that hit the U.S. last year, or is it the strain that is coming this winter?
"It is easier to fool someone than it is to convince them that they have been fooled" Mark Twain
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday September 07 2019, @08:04PM
From Australia? I'll give you 50 to 1 odds that it's headed north. 20 to one on northwest and northeast.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Farkus888 on Sunday September 08 2019, @01:52AM
Based on memory... They are ahead of the US on the flu. So the current Aussie strain will be the US strain this coming fall.
(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...
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/06/24/7408365/
(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...
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/06/24/7408365/
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 08 2019, @12:06PM
First week was rough. By the middle of the second I went to the doctor who reluctantly gave me a few days off. The third and fourth weeks sucked. Especially being at work. By the fifth week I was feeling better which is when everyone else on the office started to drop like flies.