Current Report Summary
- Although overall influenza activity remains relatively low compared to 2011 and 2012, the steady seasonal increase has continued.
- Since the beginning of the year there have been 10,702 laboratory confirmed cases of influenza reported. Over the past fortnight there were 2,688 notifications, with almost a third reported from New South Wales (919).
- Nationally, whilst influenza A remains the predominant influenza virus type, the proportion of influenza B continues to be higher than recent seasons. During the 2012 season there were very few notifications of influenza A(H1N1) pdm09. So far in 2013 whilst the majority of influenza A reports are unsubtyped, more than 10% of overall notifications have been reported as influenza A(H1N1) pdm09.
- Across jurisdictions the distribution of influenza types and subtypes is variable. In Victoria there is a predominance of influenza type B, whereas most other states are reporting a predominance of influenza type A, with NSW reporting mostly A(H1N1)pdm09 and Western Australia mostly A(H3N2).
- Over the past few weeks there has been a continued seasonal increase in influenza associated hospitalisations. Around 10% of influenza cases have been admitted directly to ICU. The age distribution of hospital admissions shows peaks in the 0-9 and over 60 years age groups typical of seasons dominated by A(H1N1).
- The WHO has reported that influenza activity in the northern hemisphere temperate zones remains at inter-seasonal levels. In the temperate countries of South America and Southern Africa, influenza transmission peaked in late June and was primarily associated with influenza A(H1N1)pdm09.
- Australian Influenza Surveillance Report No.05, 2013 (PDF 1474 KB)
- Australian Influenza Surveillance Report No.05, 2013 (Word 1665 KB)
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