FW: Australian Influenza Surveillance Report no.36. 2010

[Wishart, Michael]

Dear All

The Australian Influenza Surveillance Report no.36. 2010 which reports on influenza activity up until 10 September 2010 has been produced.

Of note
* Levels of influenza-like illness (ILI) in the community have continued to increase through most surveillance systems this reporting period with sporadic and widespread activity reported within jurisdictions. However, there was a decline in the number of laboratory confirmed notifications compared to previous weeks.
* There were 267 laboratory confirmed notifications of influenza during this reporting period, including 149 pandemic (H1N1) 2009 cases. This is a substantial decrease in the number of laboratory confirmed notifications compared to the previous week of 501. Notifications of laboratory confirmed influenza were highest in QLD this reporting period and in SA the notification rate over the past month has also been relatively high.
* Results from sentinel laboratory surveillance systems for this reporting period show that 16% of the respiratory tests conducted over this period were positive for influenza, which is a slight decrease from the last reporting period (19%). In 2010, a total of 754 specimens have been positive for influenza (of 10,834 specimens tested), of which 70% were pandemic (H1N1) 2009, 12% were A/H3N2 and 16% were influenza B.
* Up to 10 September 2010, there have been 4,687 confirmed cases of influenza diagnosed in 2010. A total of 39,899 confirmed cases of pandemic (H1N1) 2009 have occurred in Australia since May 2009.
* Sentinel hospitals have continued to report increases in the number of influenza associated hospitalisations, with 24 admissions during the reporting period, including 17 for pandemic (H1N1) 2009. ANZICS reported seven ICU admissions for influenza and the APSU has reported one case of influenza complications in children aged less than 15 years this reporting period.
* The WHO has advised that the world is no longer in phase 6 of influenza pandemic alert, and will now move into the post pandemic period. As at 1 August 2010, over 18,449 deaths worldwide have been reported associated with the pandemic virus. The WHO is currently reporting that influenza transmission is currently most intense in the temperate areas of the Southern Hemisphere, including Australia, New Zealand and Chile, and regions in southern Asia.

A summary version of this report will shortly be available on the web at the following address:
http://www.healthemergency.gov.au/internet/healthemergency/publishing.nsf/Content/resources

If you have any questions, comments or feedback please reply to flu@health.gov.au

Kind regards,

Kristy Richards
Influenza Surveillance Team
Vaccine Preventable Disease Surveillance Section
Surveillance Branch
Office of Health Protection

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Please note that the Influenza Surveillance Team, of the Vaccine Preventable Disease Surveillance Section has a group e-mail address which is flu@health.gov.au. While you can still email individual members of the team, this email address will ensure prompt responses and will avoid delays when individual staff members are absent.
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