Australia’s bad flu season could signal rough winter ahead for U.S.

By Linda Weiford, WSU News

Bob Huber of WSU Photo Services gets his flu vaccine at WSU's Flu Shot Friday clinic. (Photo by Shelly Hanks, WSU Photo Services)
Bob Huber of WSU Photo Services gets his flu vaccine at WSU’s Flu Shot Friday clinic. (Photo by Shelly Hanks, WSU Photo Services)

If the high number of cases reported in Australia is any indication, the U.S. could be in for a rough flu season in the months ahead.

Australia is wrapping up one of its worse flu seasons on record, with two and a half times more cases compared to last year and a greater number of deaths, according to health officials there.

What does this have to do with Washington state?

Patterns in the southern hemisphere help lay the groundwork for predicting what could happen when the virus establishes itself in North America, said WSU family nurse practitioner Sarah Fincham, assistant clinical professor in the college of nursing in Spokane.

“Every year the World Health Organization looks to outbreaks in the Southern Hemisphere to gauge which strains are circulating and how virulent they are,” she said.

The influenza virus circulates most heavily during their winter – which is our summer – and then migrates to the northern hemisphere as autumn arrives.

Ever punctual, the germ is popping up around the country, including the Pacific Northwest.

In Spokane, eight people have been hospitalized with flu in the past month, said epidemiologist Malia Nogle of the Spokane Regional Health District. What’s more, a northern Idaho man died of the virus in late September, she explained.

The illnesses were caused by Type A (H3N2), a strain typically associated with more severe symptoms, said Nogle. It is also the predominant circulating influenza in Australia this year.

Over the years, Fincham, who treats patients in addition to teaching, has seen influenza clobber young, otherwise healthy patients. “They seem surprised that they actually got the flu,” she said.

Because common misconceptions can cloud people’s views about getting a shot, Fincham offers this evidence-based advice in favor of getting vaccinated:

  • The flu can kill people, including healthy adults.
  • Getting a flu shot will not give you the flu. The vaccine is made from an inactivated virus that cannot transmit infection.
  • The current vaccine provides protection against multiple strains of the virus, including H3N2.
  • Even though the vaccine is not 100 percent effective in preventing flu, it can still reduce the severity of flu symptoms.
  • It takes two weeks for the vaccine to take effect. Get the shot before influenza starts spreading widely.

“Now is the best time – while the number of flu cases is still low – to get vaccinated. We can protect ourselves but also our family, friends and the community,” said Fincham, adding that she got a flu shot two weeks ago.

In Pullman, flu shots are available without appointment on campus each Friday through Oct. 27. WSU Health and Wellness Services, which provides the flu shots from its clinic in the Washington Building, says the cost is fully covered by most insurance plans.