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Speaker 1: Into your Health. He's urging Territorians to get vaccinated against

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Speaker 1: influenza following a surging cases across Central Australia and similar

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Speaker 1: spikes seen in the top end earlier in the year.

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Speaker 1: Joining me on the show is Royal Darwin Hospital consult

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Speaker 1: pediatrician doctor Bianca Middleton. Good morning to you, doctor Middleton.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, Katie, thank you so much.

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Speaker 1: For your time this morning. Now, doctor, how many flu

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Speaker 1: cases have we had so far this season?

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Speaker 2: So so far this sephen we' seen an enormous number

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Speaker 2: of flu cases. We've had one three hundred and ninety

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Speaker 2: nine cases notified to the city did he see the

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Speaker 2: flu in twenty twenty three so far and that's three

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Speaker 2: times for usual numbers that we'd see by the end

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Speaker 2: of May. So it's big, big numbers. And just in

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Speaker 2: a passportnight we've had one hundred and forty two additional

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Speaker 2: cases notified. So that's why we're encouraging all Territori into

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Speaker 2: a six months and over to get the flu vaccine

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Speaker 2: to protect themselves against serious illness and hospitalization.

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Speaker 1: And doctor, is it safe to say that there there

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Speaker 1: is probably actually more cases than that, because I would

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Speaker 1: imagine that not everybody sort of goes in to see

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Speaker 1: their doctor or to actually work out whether it is

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Speaker 1: influenza that they've got.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Katie, that's exactly right. So these numbers are only

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Speaker 2: capturing those people who've gone off and had like a

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Speaker 2: flu test, so to say, an NPA or a test

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Speaker 2: to confirmed that they've got food vice. But we're sure

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Speaker 2: there's heaps of people out there who are just unwell

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Speaker 2: at home with tightness fea, the headache and chills, and

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Speaker 2: who've just stayed at home and managed themselves as you know,

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Speaker 2: as they should with rest and panandol and fluids, but

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Speaker 2: haven't actually had a test. So yep, we agree. We

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Speaker 2: think the numbers probably much.

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Speaker 1: Higher, and it does mean that comparatively to other years,

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Speaker 1: we're seeing a real surge.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it is a big surch So those numbers again

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Speaker 2: are three times higher than we'd usually see the last

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Speaker 2: five year average, and we think they're probably going to

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Speaker 2: get higher. We know that there's lots of flood cases

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Speaker 2: happening down south in the biggest cities in Melbourne and

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Speaker 2: Sydney and Adelaide, and so as those visitors come up

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Speaker 2: here the churior season, they we're expecting to see even more.

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Speaker 2: And that's why we're really promoting this message for Territorians

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Speaker 2: over six months to get the flu vaccine.

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Speaker 1: Doctor Middleton. Have there been deaths this season Territorians whose

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Speaker 1: lives have been lost as a result of the flu?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so sadly this year. So we've had two hudred

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Speaker 2: and thirty one hospitalizations for people who've had flu this

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Speaker 2: year and sadly five depths so far. So again that's

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Speaker 2: always a sadness. And again it just shows how serious

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Speaker 2: flu can be. So fu you can make anyone sick,

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Speaker 2: and it's important for people to know and understand that

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Speaker 2: sometimes people are usually really well and healthy, particularly young

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Speaker 2: children who are otherwise well and healthy, can get really

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Speaker 2: sick and end up in hospital with flu. Yeah, that's

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Speaker 2: just really showing the importance of protecting yourself and preventing

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Speaker 2: it in any way you can. And part of that

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Speaker 2: is vaccination.

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Speaker 1: So vaccination. Are there other ways that we like, what

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Speaker 1: are the best things for us to do to try

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Speaker 1: to protect ourselves.

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Speaker 2: So if you've got the flu, yourself, So if you've

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Speaker 2: got hardness, see the headache, children's sore throat, like fabritite, cough,

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Speaker 2: runny nose, and sneezy. Then we really encourage you to

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Speaker 2: stay home and look after yourself, so have fluids, risk

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Speaker 2: keep hydrated, have panodol and eurofin and if you can,

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Speaker 2: to try and stay away from work or to prevent

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Speaker 2: sending your kids back to school until they're fully recovered.

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Speaker 2: So that's one way to protect. There's always hand washing

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Speaker 2: and good hygiene helps prevent the flu. But we know

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Speaker 2: that the flu vaccine is really excellent at preventing serious

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Speaker 2: illness and hospitalization. So it doesn't one hundred percent guarantee

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Speaker 2: that you won't get the flu, but it does significantly

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Speaker 2: reduce your risks getting really really ill with it. And

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Speaker 2: so again that's why we're really encouraging vaccination.

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Speaker 1: Now, doctor Middleton, can you tell me? And I don't

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Speaker 1: know whether this is an urban myth or not, but

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Speaker 1: sometimes people say, oh, I'm not too sure about getting

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Speaker 1: the flu vaccine because last time I got it, I

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Speaker 1: felt a bit sick for a couple of days afterwards.

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Speaker 1: Is that something that can happen or is that an

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Speaker 1: urban myth?

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Speaker 2: No? See, the urban myth is that the flu vaccine

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Speaker 2: gives you flu. The fla vaccine doesn't give you food.

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Speaker 2: But sometimes like a number of vaccines. Some people do

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Speaker 2: have a few side effects, not everyone, but most commonly

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Speaker 2: those side effects might be a little bit of pain,

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Speaker 2: redness or swelling at the injection side, or people might feel,

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Speaker 2: you know, have a mild fever, feel a bit tired

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Speaker 2: in body eggs. But again, typically those symptoms are really

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Speaker 2: really mild, and they only tend to last twenty four

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Speaker 2: to forty eight hours. So it's definitely if you get flu,

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Speaker 2: the virus itself, you're going to be much bigger than that.

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Speaker 2: So it's worth a small risk of being unwell for

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Speaker 2: a day or two with a vaccine mild illness versus

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Speaker 2: the risk of getting flu.

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Speaker 1: Now, can the flu impact certain groups more severely? I e.

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Speaker 1: Our young children or the elderly.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so there's some high risk groups that we're particularly

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Speaker 2: keen to help protect against the flu, and these groups

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Speaker 2: are eligible for vaccines. That's older people anyone aged sixty

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Speaker 2: five years and older. It's young children as well. Sometimes

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Speaker 2: people don't know and understand that as a pediatrician, we

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Speaker 2: often see little children who are under five years of

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Speaker 2: age admitted to hospital with flu. Sort the flu vaccine

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Speaker 2: is free for all children aged six months to under

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Speaker 2: five years age. The FLEA vaccine is provided free to

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Speaker 2: all Aboriginal people for age six months and older and

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Speaker 2: anyone aged over six months with the chronic medical condition

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Speaker 2: that might increase their risk of becoming unwell with flu.

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Speaker 2: And importantly sometimes people don't know this, but the flea

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Speaker 2: vaccine is also free and available for pregnant women. But

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Speaker 2: the flu vaccine is safe for pregnant women at any

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Speaker 2: stage with their pregnancy where they're in first trimester, second trimester,

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Speaker 2: or third semeister. And it's actually really important for pregnant

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Speaker 2: women to have the flu vaccine because it protects not

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Speaker 2: only the mums, but it also protects a little unborn baby.

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Speaker 2: So it means in the first few months of life,

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Speaker 2: when that baby's not old enough to have their own

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Speaker 2: flu vaccine yet, they'll still have them protective anybody from

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Speaker 2: their mum. So yeah, that's the group that we're really

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Speaker 2: keen to get vaccinated as well. Well.

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Speaker 1: And doctor Middleton, as a Royal Down Hospital consult pediatrician,

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Speaker 1: I guess you probably see firsthand more than most the

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Speaker 1: impact that's something like influenza can have on our little people.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right, and it's really devastating. I think, you know,

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Speaker 2: Austin Respiratory Honesses. You know, it's it's it's tricky to

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Speaker 2: watch little children who are sick in hospital struggling, you know,

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Speaker 2: struggling with their breathing and struggling to get fluids in

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Speaker 2: and so anything we can do within the community to

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Speaker 2: prevent that for our own children and children more generally,

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Speaker 2: including vaccination, is really important.

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Speaker 1: Well, doctor Bianka Middleton, I really appreciate your time this morning.

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Speaker 1: Thanks so much for coming on the show and having

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Speaker 1: a bit of a chat to us about it.

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Speaker 2: Good. Great, Thanks so much, Katie, thank you