If you’ve felt like you spent the entirety of winter constantly full of snot, then there’s at least a medical / statistical basis for your grottiness. According to the experts, Australia is currently experiencing its worst ever flu season, with the total number of cases so far exceeding 70,000.
There have been more than twice as many confirmed cases of the flu in the first seven months of 2017 than the same time period last year.
“It looks like we will again get the greatest number of notified cases in Australia we’ve ever seen,” Professor Paul Van Buynder from Gold Coast Health and the Immunisation Coalition told 9 News.
“I’m confident that this is not just the biggest recorded year in our data but it’s also the largest flu outbreak that we’ve seen for quite some time.”
At the very least – depending on how it pans out – it’ll be the worst flu season in at least fifteen years. Children and teens, aged 10 to 19, have been the worst hit.
Given that these huge figures really only account for the people who actually visit their doctor and get a nasal swab taken, the actual figures are probably going to be substantially higher. Especially, one assumes, for blokes – who do not go to the doctor but nonetheless assume a free licence to sook about it constantly.
It’s not too late to get your flu shot, by the way. Never a better time than the present, folks.
