‘Very, very sick’: Hospitalisations on rise as doctors warn of nasty flu season - The Age

Royal Australian College of General Practitioners Victorian chair Dr Anita Munoz said the speed and severity at which influenza was circulating so early in the year had GPs on high alert.

Munoz said many people were unaware they had the flu until making an appointment with their doctor following several negative tests for coronavirus.

She said it had also stoked fears our immunity to influenza has waned after the disease all but disappeared for two years, with COVID-19 pandemic border closures, mask-wearing and social distancing pushing the flu down to record lows.

“It will be some months before we can make a comparison of this year with pre-pandemic flu season, but anecdotally speaking, all we are hearing is that people are getting really, really sick with the flu, and it appears more so than previous years,” Munoz said.

Professor Ian Barr, deputy director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza, said reported cases were likely the tip of the iceberg and that infection numbers could be more than 10 times than those notified on surveillance databases.

Asked whether people will get more sick from the flu this year due to being shielded from it for two years, Barr said it was difficult to say.

“Certainly, people’s immune levels will be down because they haven’t seen influenza for a few years and some kids won’t have seen influenza at all, so they may have more severe or longer periods of infection,” Barr said.

Cases were far surpassing coronavirus infections in children, he said.

They said those who were susceptible to adverse outcomes from the flu – including people aged over 65, pregnant women and children under five – should get vaccinated as soon as possible.