Flu season? Experts say we’re already in it

Glenn Phillips never expected to infect his family with the flu when they met for a belated Christmas gathering in late March 2023.

Phillips’ parents – both in their 70s at the time – drove from Brisbane to meet him near his home in Cairns, and left almost a month later after they had been hospitalised for weeks with influenza A.

“I don’t think my father ever fully recovered from it. He’s a changed man after that event – after that holiday,” Phillips said.

Glenn Phillips did not know he had the flu when he went to dinner with his older parents, Neryl and Max (pictured), in March 2023.Credit: Glenn Phillips

They were among many Australians who had reckoned with influenza A outside of what was considered typical flu season.

“People always think of influenza [season] as winter, and think, ‘I’ll get my vaccination in May, and it’ll protect me June, July, August up to the [Ekka]’, but to me, influenza is the whole year around now,” pharmacist and TerryWhite Chemmart Arana Hills owner Karen Brown said.

“You’ve got [tourists from the] northern hemisphere coming over at Christmas – they’re coming from their winter into our summer,” she said.

Queensland Chief Health Officer Dr Heidi Carroll said the state had already seen 13,600 cases of the flu since the beginning of 2025 – a 35 per cent increase in numbers from the same period in 2024.

Glenn Phillips said he hadn’t considered he had the flu when he woke up with kidney pain in late March 2023.

With a dinner arranged for nine family members – including his older parents – that evening, he saw a doctor who prescribed him antibiotics, but Phillips deteriorated rapidly that evening while with family.

“Out of the people in my family, I infected seven,” he said.

Glenn Phillips (right), with wife Sonya (left), and parents Neryl and Max (centre). Credit: Glenn Phillips

Brown said one of the biggest mistakes people visiting her pharmacy made was underestimating the illness, and equating the flu with the common cold.

“If you get influenza, you truly know it’s influenza, and it’s not a cold … even healthy adults and children, it can really knock them about,” Brown said.

Phillips said his father was in hospital twice in a three-week period, becoming disoriented due to his high body temperature and developing “brain fog”, which still affects the now 79-year-old.

“It’s difficult to live with the fact that I did that,” Phillips said.

“It didn’t just stop with my family … I gave it to my sister-in-law, and she went back down and gave it to her very ill husband,” he said.

Glenn Phillips said his parents were in and out of hospital across three-week period as they battled severe flu symptoms in 2023.Credit: Glenn Phillips

Phillips experienced debilitating back pain that “made it difficult to move”, as well as respiratory symptoms, fever and chills.

Carroll said almost 200 people died from influenza A in 2024 in Queensland, including 39 people aged between 30 and 65.

“Flu strains constantly evolve, and people’s immunity reduces over time, so they need to be vaccinated every year to be protected against current circulating strains,” Carroll said.

Queensland Health opened its free vaccine program from March 1.

Brown estimated her Arana Hills pharmacy had administered about 1000 vaccines since the season began.

“It’s all about convenience … it’s free, we’re accessible, you can come in seven days a week and get it, and it’s literally 15 minutes out of your day.”

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