Beware! Swine flu on its way back

JOELLE DALLY | 29th January 2010

Swine flu is expected to hit Christchurch well before winter, and medical authorities are looking to vaccinate health workers from next week.

The second wave of the highly infections H1N1 virus is expected here by April, following an early strike of the virus in the northern hemisphere.

Canterbury Medical Officer of Health Alistair Humphrey said medical workers were being encouraged to get the single strain vaccine for the virus now so the public health service would continue to operate when the virus hit.

A second vaccine that will cover the swine flu virus and two seasonal flu strains would arrive in early March. This would go to "at risk" groups first - pregnant women, vulnerable children in low decile or Maori or Pacific communities, and people with certain medical conditions.

The bulk of the second vaccine would be made available to the general public in late March or early April. Historically, the second wave of a flu virus can be worse. Dr Humphrey said tests were currently being conducted on this, but they did not yet know if the virus would be worse this year.

He said in the United States, it was more severe in areas unaffected during the first wave.

"We have got to get the vaccine out quickly to those who need it most," he said.

"Last year all we had was Tamiflu ... If everyone gets vaccinated (this year) nothing will happen."

Three Christchurch people who contracted swine flu died last year.

The spread of the virus through the city sparked a major district health board campaign, which advised people with flu-like symptoms to seek medical advice over the phone or at a flu centre.

The first death was a 42-year-old father of three on July 2. He was the third fatal case in New Zealand.

He had been unwell for some time with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

The second was a 50-year-old man. He had contracted the virus but another medical condition is understood to have caused his death overnight on July 4-5.

A 54-year-old man who died on July 31 was later confirmed as having swine flu.

Nationally the virus killed 20 people, and many thousands contracted it.

Dr Humphrey said flu centres would not operate in the city this year, as GPs had signalled they could cope with the virus.

City pharmacists said sales of Tamiflu had dropped away completely.

They were not expecting the same "panic-buying" because the flu had not proved as bad as expected last year.

The only people buying the $85 medicine were those travelling to the northern hemisphere.

Pharmacist Brett Garriock, of Eastgate Unichem Pharmacy, said during the peak of the swine flu pandemic last year they were writing two to three scripts a day for Tamiflu. But that demand had "died completely."