Killer flu claims ninth Australian victim
Pastor Dale Morgan
*Killer flu claims ninth Australian victim*
August 16, 2007 11:56pm
Article from: AAP
A SOUTH Australian health care worker has died from a strain of
influenza, the ninth Australian to succumb to the virus this winter, the
Ten network reported tonight.
The 48-year-old woman was admitted to the Royal Adelaide Hospital on
Monday but died the next morning.
Tests confirmed the unnamed woman, who worked for a private health
clinic, had been suffering from the A strain of the virus.
State health authorities said people needed to remain aware of the
problem of flu in the winter season.
“The message I would give is it's not too late for people to be
immunised,” the SA Department of Health's Professor Chris Baggoley told
the network.
“It's important people understand that and I would particularly
encourage health care workers to be immunised because they're more at risk.”
Australia is in the grip of its worst influenza season in five years,
with record infection rates and six children in four states dead after
reporting flu-like symptoms.
A 37-year-old Queensland man has also died of flu, accounting for eight
of the nine deaths.
The victims had one of two virulent strains of influenza A, either H3N2
or H1N1, which are spreading with particular severity this winter.