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September 18, 2026 \u2014 5:00am<\/p>\n
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n A 400 per cent spike in influenza cases across Victoria is expected to continue rising over the school holidays, placing pressure on emergency departments and fuelling an increase in workplace absences.<\/p>\n Chief Health Officer Dr Caroline McElnay said this year\u2019s influenza season had arrived unusually late, and was set to peak well past the traditional mid-winter surges observed in 2024 and 2025.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re seeing a rise in our notifications for respiratory illnesses, and that\u2019s driven by influenza. We\u2019re seeing that later this year than what we\u2019ve seen in previous years,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause the temperature starts to heat up now … there\u2019s a tendency to think, \u2018Well, we\u2019re out of flu season now.\u2019 We\u2019re absolutely not. Our numbers are increasing.\u201d<\/p>\n McElnay said it was unclear why this year\u2019s influenza season was delayed, but a similar pattern had played out in New Zealand and NSW.<\/p>\n \u201cWe honestly don\u2019t know why we\u2019re seeing it late,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Health Department data shows that influenza notifications have risen by 400 per cent over the past seven weeks, with influenza A responsible for most infections. Almost 3000 new influenza cases were recorded across the state during the last week of August, according to the latest data. COVID infections have remained stable during this period, while respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) cases have declined.<\/p>\n As thousands of families prepare to embark on school holidays next week, McElnay urged people to take extra precautions to protect vulnerable relatives and those with compromised immune systems.<\/p>\n Related Article \u201cIf your child is sick, keep them at home … they themselves might not be too sick, but if an older family member catches it, they may be very unwell.\u201d<\/p>\n She said it was not too late to get the influenza vaccine, which was one of the best ways to protect against severe disease.<\/p>\n Influenza vaccination rates have tumbled for all age groups since 2020.<\/p>\n Just 39.3 per cent of children aged 6 months to 2 years are vaccinated against the flu, compared with 54.4 per cent in 2020.<\/p>\n Last year, around 119,000 influenza cases were detected in Victoria, with infections peaking in mid-July. This year, around 28,000 cases have already been recorded, but this number is expected to rise exponentially as flu season kicks off.<\/p>\n The Department of Health said the continued circulation of influenza could increase disruption to workplaces, schools and childcare settings.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The rise in infections is also impacting emergency departments and placing pressure on the state\u2019s health workers, who are home sick or caring for unwell children.<\/p>\n Emergency department presentations for acute respiratory infections have risen by 25 per cent over the past six weeks, mainly driven by children aged five to 17.<\/p>\n At the Royal Melbourne Hospital last weekend, the bulk of patients admitted to the respiratory unit from the emergency department were suffering from influenza A.<\/p>\n Associate Professor Megan Rees, director of the respiratory medicine and sleep disorders department at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, said many of these patients required extra oxygen to help their breathing, antiviral medication and hydration.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is a dominant spike that we\u2019ve seen over the last few weeks,\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t know where it\u2019ll end.\u201d<\/p>\n She believes that climate change and the pandemic disrupting the cycling of viruses through the community may have led to a later-than-normal flu season compared to the last few years.<\/p>\n Related Article \u201cWhen I was training decades ago, flu season always peaked in September … but that was before climate change was as severe as it is now and when we still had snow on the mountains … it didn\u2019t seem so unusual.\u201d<\/p>\n She said older people and those with underlying health conditions such as asthma, emphysema and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, were more likely to require hospital treatment.<\/p>\n Rees said the virus could exacerbate other chronic conditions such as heart failure or diabetes by triggering inflammation, causing cells across the body to function poorly.<\/p>\n This can also lead to secondary bacterial infections such as pneumonia, which might develop weeks later.<\/p>\n \u201cYour immune system becomes impaired as a result,\u201d Rees said. \u201cThe inflammation has meant that their normal capacity to fight off bacterial infections has diminished.\u201d<\/p>\n While vaccination doesn\u2019t always prevent infection, Rees said immunisation helps the body fight the virus more effectively.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cIn the hospitalised group, people who are vaccinated probably present less often than people who are unvaccinated, and have less severe disease when they come in,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n She also recommended regularly washing hands with soap and warm water and wearing masks in crowded spaces such as airports.<\/p>\n Related Article Rees said contrary to popular opinion, planes often have very effective cleaning and extraction systems.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s often that embarkation and disembarkation, when you\u2019re in a crowd of people, where you might be exposed. If you were going to wear a mask at any time during plane travel, it would be on that onboarding and offboarding.\u201d<\/p>\n She said people with a chronic heart or respiratory condition should consider wearing masks on public transport.<\/p>\n Dr Nader Abou-Seif, a GP from Hoppers Crossing, in Melbourne\u2019s west, has been treating an increasing number of patients with influenza A over the past two to three weeks.<\/p>\n He said this rise in cases followed a relatively quiet period during the winter months.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a lot later than what I was expecting,\u201d he said of the influenza season.<\/p>\n He said patients were exhibiting symptoms including congestion, sore throat, fever, lack of energy and a cough.<\/p>\n \u201cThey feel very ordinary,\u201d he said. \u201cThe acute illness lasts around a week but the lack of energy that follows and the cough can go on for many weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n Abou-Seif advises patients suffering from influenza to rest, make sure they are adequately hydrated and to seek medical attention if they are having trouble breathing.<\/p>\n He said it was not too late to be vaccinated against the flu, and an increasing number of patients had been booking immunisations at his clinic.<\/p>\n The Examine newsletter explains and analyses science with a rigorous focus on the evidence. 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Victoria\u2019s flu season has not yet reached its peak.Paul Jeffers<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/06cff0dbf2d563626eff0e752b83755b04db42b9.jpeg\")
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Victoria\u2019s flu season has not yet reached its peak.Getty Images<\/p>\n![\"Consumers](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/70985521638cb503adbf7137acef22b6411c0c8c.jpeg\")
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Henrietta Cook<\/a> is a senior reporter covering health for The Age. Henrietta joined The Age in 2012 and has previously covered state politics, education and consumer affairs. Email her via henrietta.cook@theage.com.au or henrietta.cook@protonmail.comConnect via X<\/a>, Facebook<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"September 18, 2026 \u2014 5:00am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":895891,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[64,63,137],"class_list":["post-895890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=895890"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895890\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/895891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=895890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=895890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=895890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}