Border emergency departments are feeling the pressure of a severe flu season, which has the potential to be the worst in recorded history.
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It was a horror start to the flu season for Albury-Wodonga Health when ten people tested positive for influenza between May 1 to June 6, compared to zero for the same period in 2018.
AWH operations manager of acute services Tracy Nesbitt said the number of admissions and presentations has not slowed.
"Presentations to our emergency departments have doubled [compared to 2018], we've seen a large number of people coming through particularly looking for influenza testing," she said. "Presentations are through the roof."
Ms Nesbitt said many people who test positive for the influenza don't require admission to hospital but can be sent home with guidance and follow up from their general practitioner.
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However those who are severely unwell and require admission, must be kept in isolation, which is putting pressure on resources.
"We're at capacity as far as isolation capacity across the organisation," Ms Nesbitt said. "It's very challenging."
So far in 2019, there have been 231 influenza-related deaths nationally, according to the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System, but none in the border region.
While 144,159 cases of influenza have been confirmed nationally - almost two and a half times the total number of cases in 2018, 58,879.
The worst flu season officially recorded was in 2017, when 251,160 people tested positive for the infection and 598 people died influenza-related deaths, including ten residents of a Wangaratta nursing home.
The number of flu cases so far in 2019, outnumbers the amount of reported cases in the same period of 2017, but the 2017 flu season skyrocketed to a peak in August and September.
Ms Nesbitt said it was hard to know whether the 2019 flu season was at its peak, or whether it would prove to be worse than 2017.
"It's different timing from 2017..." she said. "It will be interesting to see when the flu season stops, it definitely started a lot earlier this year than last year or the year before, we may be in for a long haul."
Residents who suspect they might have the flu are advised to visit their GP first, Ms Nesbitt said, who will refer them on if hospital if needed.
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