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Swine flu cases yet to peak
Siobhain Ryan | July 15, 2009
Article from: The Australian
HEALTH authorities are bracing for a peak in swine flu infections next month, as emergency departments struggle to cope with the surge in cases and the death toll continues to rise.
Chief Medical Officer Jim Bishop said yesterday the novel A/H1N1 virus had already pushed the influenza workload at hospitals to above last year's levels and was on track to match the bad flu season of 2007.
"We'd anticipate that, as with the normal flu season, this will start to peak really in August, so we've still got some way to go," he said.
The spike would have to be managed without the benefit of a vaccine, he acknowledged. But Dr Bishop said the entire population could potentially be immunised once a vaccine became available, if one dose proved sufficient per person.
If two doses were required, the government would prioritise the most needy and roll out the vaccine to 10.5 million Australians.
"We anticipate that the Australian population will be one of the first populations around the world where the vaccine is available," Dr Bishop said.
"I'd also say that the chances are that the way this is going, the manufacture of this, it'll come after the peak."
The World Health Organisation yesterday declared the pandemic "unstoppable" and called on all countries to secure vaccine. It expects a swine flu vaccine to be ready as soon as September, a month earlier than Australia's timeline for the start of an immunisation program.
Local vaccine maker CSL has already scheduled an announcement for next week to mark the start of its clinical trials but it will require sign-off from the nation's medicines regulator, the Therapeutic Goods Administration, before its product is deemed safe enough to use.
As of noon yesterday, Australia had 9828 swine flu cases, up 778 since midday on Monday.
The death toll stood at 20, after NSW recorded a fifth fatality with the virus. A 55-year-old man with underlying health problems died with swine flu in St George Hospital, in southern Sydney, on Saturday.