Spike in flu cases could be due to tourism

Doctors have noted an early start to the flu season, with cases starting in summer and building at an unseasonal pace. Could Tasmania’s tourism boom be driving up cases?

TASMANIA’S flu spike has started well ahead of season – prompting a warning the state’s normally predictable winter flu season may be year-long.

GPs have noted an early start to the flu season, with cases starting in summer and building at an unseasonal pace.

There are concerns the cases will soar further going into winter, and nurses are calling for dedicated flu clinics at the Royal Hobart Hospital to help deal with the numbers.

Confirmed influenza notifications are tracking at double the usual number for this time of year, sparking questions about whether the state’s tourism influx is to blame.

Huon Valley GP Bastian Seidel said it was unclear why the number of cases was so high, but it was possible greater numbers of travellers were bringing it down with them.

“There is speculation about the increased number of tourists, and flu cases could be coming from interstate and overseas,” Dr Seidel said.

He said cases of flu began in summer this year, and the notion of a traditional winter flu season may need redefining.

“We are seeing higher levels of influenza than previous years, and we saw higher levels in January, February and March,” he said.

“Since the beginning of the year we have seen two to three times the normal levels of influenza cases,” he said.

“The days of a predictable flu season are over.”

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Dr Seidel urged members of the public to get vaccinated against the flu, for their own sake and to create “herd immunity” across the wider community.

“We need 80 per cent of the population to have the flu jab for herd immunity,” he said.

There have been 515 laboratory-confirmed cases of influenza A and 14 cases of influenza B in Tasmania this year.

Australian Medical Association member and Hobart GP Dr John Saul said the cases could add extra pressure to an already overloaded Emergency Department at the Royal Hobart Hospital.

“We are seeing twice the number of flu patients than the normal for this period of time,” Dr Saul said.

Flu data from Public Health Services in Tasmania shows laboratory-confirmed influenza cases have been building since January, and the April cases are already way ahead of the peak of the flu season in mid-winter last year.

The first three weeks of April saw 227 cases of flu confirmed in Tasmania, while the previous four years had only a handful in all of April.

The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation Tasmanian Branch has called for a separate flu clinic to be opened at the RHH this winter.

Federation executive director Andrew Brakey said there was already pressure on the RHH due to the unseasonal spike in flu.

“It’s quite early in the season and we are already seeing quite high numbers of flu coming into the emergency departments,” he said.

He said a dedicated flu clinic could deal with the cases that do not require hospital admission, by testing for flu and issuing medication.

“This would keep flu patients away from the emergency department, where there are other compromised individuals who are already quite unwell and don’t need the flu on top of everything else.”

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