Via the Courier Mail: Doctors bracing for flu epidemic. Excerpt:
Health authorities are increasingly worried that Queensland is heading for a horror flu season.
Doctors were already expecting a "double whammy" flu threat, with the return of swine flu and two more conventional strains expected to circulate.
Now the number of people requesting flu vaccinations has plummeted after the shots were banned for children aged five and under.
GPs are reporting a 50 per cent drop in requests for the seasonal flu vaccine, which is safe for those over the age of five and protects against swine flu, or H1N1, influenza B and A:Perth.
The swine flu vaccination remains safe for all ages.
The Therapeutic Goods Association is investigating whether the flu vaccine may have caused the death of Brisbane two-year-old Ashley Epapara, and authorities are yet to get to the bottom of a vaccine scare in Western Australia, with tests so far showing no signs of abnormalities.
There have been hundreds of cases of children suffering adverse reactions to vaccines, including febrile convulsions, fevers and vomiting.
Australia's chief medical officer Jim Bishop said it was possible a spike in cases of fever and convulsions among young children in WA could simply be linked to the higher number of vaccinations performed there.
Australian Medical Association Queensland president Mason Stevenson said ongoing "unnecessary paranoia" about flu vaccinations could result in an "abysmally low" vaccination rate this year.
"This has come at the worst time when we anticipate the second wave of the human swine flu pandemic to hit Australia," he said.
"We have 230 intensive care beds in Queensland, and it would only take an epidemic not much worse than last year's to max out our ICU beds." Dr Stevenson said a "double whammy" flu threat would hit all age groups this year.
"Vaccination rates remain low, and there are as many as three circulating strains in the same year, with swine flu a grave risk to the young and middle-aged, and the two seasonal flu strains the greatest risk to the elderly," he said.
