# 1815
To be clear, the `Killer Flu' referenced in the headline below has nothing to do with bird flu. Here, we are talking about worrisome changes in seasonal flu.
Roughly six months before each hemisphere's flu season, scientists have to decide which three flu viruses to include in the upcoming year's vaccine. It's not easy, particularly when you recognize there may be more than 3 viruses in circulation.
Last year they missed badly on the H3N2 strain, and the B strain of the trivalent vaccine. Australia was hit particularly hard last summer with the emergence of a new Influenza A strain dubbed A/H3N2/Brisbane.
A half-dozen Australian children under the age of 5 died from complications of the flu in 2007.
With an overhauled vaccine, containing antigens for the A/H1N1/Brisbane and A/H3N2/Brisbane strains, Health officials are hoping they have a better match this year.
They are encouraging parents to have their children inoculated before the flu season starts.
Given the recent rise in Tamiflu resistant H1N1 viruses around the world, the best policy is to avoid catching the flu if at all possible.
Parents warned of new killer flu
Article from: Sunday Herald Sun
Suellen Hinde
March 23, 2008 12:00am
AUSTRALIAN parents are being urged by the World Health Organisation to vaccinate their children as the country faces a potentially deadly flu season.
WHO says the nation's front-line drug to defend against influenza - anti-viral medication Tamiflu -- is losing its effectiveness, which could leave hundreds of thousands of elderly and young Australians vulnerable to a new mutation of the potentially lethal Influenza A (H1N1) virus.
Ian Barr, deputy director of Melbourne's WHO Centre for Reference and Research, said yesterday: "The biggest concern is that the virus is mutating."
"It is something we are monitoring very carefully. We have had two cases (in Australia) since September that have not responded (to anti-virals) and have that resistant strain."
Now WHO is urging parents to vaccinate children aged six months to six years before the flu season.
There were six deaths in children under five from Influenza A in Australia last year.
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