Het gaat niet om een buikgriepje maar het influenza A-virus. Dat is het gevaarlijke broertje van de huis-tuin-en keukengriep en was ook de veroorzaker van de spaanse griep begin 20e eeuw. Ze zijn er nu extra alert op omdat in het hele land er EEN PAAR gevallen zijn waarbij ook kinderen en volwassenen zijn overleden. Perth, Melbourne en (zuidelijk) Queensland heb ik horen noemen.
Het is absoluut geen paniek hier, wel verhoogde staat van paraatheid. Je kunt je inenten voor deze variant maar de autoriteit op het gebied van opvoeding (soort super-consultatieburo) adviseert dat niet te doen: "Influenza and child deaths Recently 3 children died in Western Australia from influenza. It appears that all of the children had influenza A as well as another infection, and that the combination of these infections caused very severe and quickly fatal illnesses. Before these deaths the same type of flu has not caused a particularly severe illness. Deaths of children from influenza are very rare." - zie verder http://www.cyh.com/HealthTopics/HealthTopicDetails.aspx?p=114&np=303&id=1453
Gewoon gaan doen wat je wilt dus, en als je de symptomen ziet (koorts, lusteloosheid etc) ga dan direct naar een dokter.
Goed overzicht van de huidge stand van zaken vind je hier http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601081&sid=avDgKkQ1kqMs&refer=australia, onderstaand de tekst uit het artikel.
"Australia's Flu Cases Surge in Nationwide Outbreak
Aug. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Flu cases surged across Australia last month in the country's worst outbreak of the seasonal illness in several years, the health ministry said. Confirmed influenza cases reached 3,017 in the first seven months of the year, compared with 1,121 in 2006, according to the ministry's notifiable disease surveillance system. In July, 2,111 cases were confirmed by laboratory tests, the highest monthly tally in at least six years. ``Sadly, some influenza infections have resulted in deaths this season, including in a small number of children,'' said John Horvath, Australia's chief medical officer, in an e-mailed statement today.
The fatalities highlight the threat posed by flu, a disease that the World Health Organization estimates causes between 250,000 and 500,000 deaths worldwide each year. The health agency predicts millions could die if a strain that is circulating in some poultry in Asia and parts of Africa becomes more adept at infecting humans, setting off a pandemic. Australia's flu season is the worst since 2003, said Neil Branch, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Ageing. Only a fraction of flu cases diagnosed by doctors are confirmed by laboratory tests. Most of the infections this year have been caused by flu viruses belonging to the H3 and H1 subtypes, the department said in a report this month. The bird flu virus that's killed at least 193 people during the past four years in Asia, Africa and the Middle East is from a different family, identified as H5N1.
Cases in Queensland
The northeastern state of Queensland has reported more than 1,400 cases of flu this year, almost three times as many as New South Wales and Western Australia states. Cases in Victoria total more than 220, the department said in its report. The highest rates of the disease have been in children under 4. Four pediatric cases this year have been fatal, it said. Influenza is different from the common cold and is characterized by sudden onset, fever, tiredness, dry cough, sore throat, nasal congestion and body aches, Horvath said. Antiviral drugs such as Roche Holding AG's Tamiflu and GlaxoSmithKline Plc's Relenza can reduce the severity and duration of flu symptoms if taken within 48 hours of the onset of disease. "
