New flu bug in Chch

Press, 30 August 1989, Page 1

New flu bug in Chch

TOM METCALFE

An outbreak of flu which has caused up to half the children at some North Island schools to stay home has arrived in Christchurch.

The Health Department announced yesterday that two cases of flu have been detected by laboratory tests in the city this week.

One case is the influenza B virus that has been epidemic in the North Island this year. It is the- first time the virus has been detected in the South Island this year. The other case is of influenza A virus, which was epidemic in Christchurch about two years ago.

Scientists do not know yet if it is a remnant of the last epidemic, or a new strain.

If it is new, Christchurch people might have to suffer the flu twice in the next few months, according to the Canterbury Area Health Board’s senior medical officer, Dr Mel Brieseman. The effects of influenza A and influenza B were very similar, but immunity to one type gained by fighting off an infection did not confer immunity to the other, Anyone who caught influenza A two years ago would probably still be immune if this year’s virus turned out to be the same.

“It’s a bit of a pain. We’ve already had a few flu-like illnesses this year, and now there’s the possibility of catching not just one, but maybe two flus.” It was hard to say how long an outbreak here was likely to last, but the North Island outbreak lasted two or three months, he said.