WHO warns Aussies to prepare for deadly flu

The World Health Organisation (WHO) is warning Australians to prepare for a potentially deadly flu season.

The WHO is advising parents to vaccinate their children against the potentially lethal Influenza A (H1N1) virus which is also a threat to the elderly and those whose immune systems are compromised.

The advice comes amid revelations that the frontline drug to defend against influenza, Tamiflu, is in danger of becoming ineffective.

Deputy director of the WHO Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza, Ian Barr is urging Australian parents to vaccinate children aged six months to six years after recent WHO investigations show a common and sometimes deadly strain of Influenza A is showing resistance to the antiviral Tamiflu.

Last year in Australia six children under the age of five died from Influenza A; the Australian influenza season is expected to begin in June or July.

Last year Queensland had the highest rate of laboratory-confirmed influenza in the country with 4,268 cases, followed by New South Wales with 1,640 cases, and Victoria with 1,497; in 2006 there were only 1,213 cases recorded for the entire country.

The Queensland epidemic resulted in the death of a four-year-old boy and a 37 year old man.

According to Mr Barr the biggest concern is that the virus is mutating.

He says the Influenza A H1N1 strain is cyclical and appears every four or five years, and these strains of influenza are expected to appear again this year.

Mr Barr says they are monitoring the situation very carefully as two cases in Australia since September have appeared which did not respond to antivirals and have that resistant strain.

The WHO is co-ordinating further investigations at a global level and reviewing its recommendations on the use of Tamiflu and Australian health authorities have been alerted to the virus's resistance to its medication.

At present Tamiflu makes up more than 80 per cent of the Government's antiviral stockpile.

Tamiflu manufacturer Roche says they too are monitoring the situation.

Experts are hopeful that another antiviral medication, Relenza, made by GlaxoSmithKline, may still work against the H1 mutated strain.

Australia's National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) has not recommended universal influenza vaccination for children but advises that if parents wish to vaccinate their children, the vaccine can be given from six months of age.

An NHMRC working group is examining the effectiveness of influenza vaccination in children and will provide a report later in 2008.

The Department of Health was notified of 950 confirmed influenza cases in WA last year, more than four times the previous year.

Many were in children under the age of five, including three who died in July; none had been vaccinated.

This year sees an Australian first in that children in WA aged between six months and five years will be eligible for a free influenza vaccine from GPs and immunisation clinics from April.

The WA Health Department says evidence from other countries suggests that vaccinating young children can protect them and can also have a flow-on effect to the wider community.

The free influenza vaccines will also be available to people 65 and older, indigenous Australians aged 50 and older and indigenous Australians aged 15-49 who have a high-risk medical condition.