Availability of the northern hemisphere influenza vaccine for Australians travelling overseas

Abstract

[Extract] Re: Ratnam I, et al. Incidence and risk factors for acute respiratory illness and influenza virus infections in Australian travellers to Asia. J Clin Virol (2013) http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcv.2013.01.008 Drs Ratnam et al. raise the importance of respiratory infection, particularly influenza, as a risk to travellers while overseas. In their study of 621 Australians travelling to Asian countries, they report that 6.9% (43/621) contracted either confirmed influenza or an influenza-like infection. Influenza can cause serious illness but even with milder symptoms it can spoil holiday or business plans and cause considerable inconvenience and expense should it be necessary to source medical assistance in a foreign country or re-schedule flights and accommodation.