Aussie flu could kill as many as 1. Hong Kong pandemic.

The dreaded Aussie flu outbreak that the NHS is preparing for will be the worst in 5. Some A& E units in Australia had 'standing room only' after being swamped by more than 1. H3. N2 strain. Professor Robert Dingwall, a public health expert at Nottingham Trent University, said it is 'inevitable' it will reach Britain. He said it could claim as many lives as the Hong Kong flu outbreak in 1.

The dreaded Aussie flu outbreak that the NHS is preparing for will be the worst in 5. Some A& E units in Australia had 'standing room only' after being swamped by more than 1. H3. N2 strain. Some A& E units in Australia had 'standing room only' after being swamped by more than 1. H3. N2 strain. Professor Dingwall told The Daily Express: 'Based on the Australian experience public health officials need to meet and urgently review emergency planning procedures.'Public Health England should be working with local authorities and local health services to ensure more hospital beds are freed up. We need to be prepared, alert and flexible.'There is no point in trying to close the borders. It’s almost inevitable this will come to us.'This is potentially the worst winter since the Hong Kong flu outbreak of 1.

Lots of people have been very badly affected in Australia and whilst their mortality rates are not out yet we suspect this is a more severe strain than most other years.'More pressure on hospitals Simon Stevens, the head of the NHS, warned that the virus could cause 'much more pressure' for hospitals and GP surgeries two weeks ago. THE HONG KONG FLU OUTBREAK IN 1. Between one and four million people were killed during the Hong Kong flu outbreak in 1. The H3. N2 strain was responsible. This is the same strain that caused havoc in Australia during their winter. The virus was noted for being highly contagious, with it infecting 5. Over the course of a year, it spread to Vietnam, Singapore, India, Australia, Europe, the US, Japan, Africa and South America.

Addressing the Health and Care Innovation Expo conference, he said: 'The signs from the Southern Hemisphere winter have been that flu has been much higher and it has been the variety that puts the most pressure on the old people's services like care homes.'If that reproduces itself here over this coming winter that is going to mean much more pressure on GP services and hospitals.' Australia - whose winter occurs during our summer - had one of its worst outbreaks on record, with two and a half times the normal number of cases. Around 3,0. Australians die each year from flu, but figures are yet to confirm how many people have lost their lives to this year's outbreak, but 7. Last week, Professor Paul Van Buynder, chairman of the Immunisation Coalition, told news. I’m confident this is not just the biggest on record but the largest flu outbreak we’ve seen for some time.’ Who is most at risk? The elderly with their compromised immune systems are particularly susceptible to the H3. N2 strain which has blighted Australia during the country’s winter. Eight residents died from the flu at one care home in Victoria. Figures also suggest there has been a spike in cases among children between the ages of five and nine. The flu season in the UK and the rest of the Northern Hemisphere tends to mirror what has happened in Australia and the Southern Hemisphere. The same strains of the virus will circulate north in time for the British flu season, which typically begins in November and lasts until March.

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Some health experts in Australia have blamed the severe outbreak on the vaccine not matching, with figures suggesting it to have performed poorly. Vaccine concerns But there are concerns the vaccine, made by World Health Organisation scientists, will prove to be ineffective as it will not match the H3. N2 strain. Scientists create the vaccines in March, based on which flu strains they expect to be in circulation. They are then given out in September. Some health experts in Australia have blamed the severe outbreak on the vaccine not matching, with figures suggesting it to have performed poorly, potentially due to it having mutated. The vaccine used in the UK will be very similar. Constantly mutating Flu viruses are constantly changing proteins on their surface to avoid detection by the body's immune system - making it more deadly. This transformation is called an 'antigenic shift' if it's large enough, and can lead to a pandemic. This was responsible for the swine flu outbreak in 2.

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The Aussie flu is transforming quickly, but not fast enough for experts to describe it as a shift. However, it is slowly building up immunity. Professor Robert Booy, an expert on infectious diseases at the University of Sydney, said the strain will likely reach Britain. He previously said: 'What we are seeing in Australia at the moment could easily transmit to the UK because of the ease of global travel and tourism.' Ineffective flu jabs  In 2. Government figures suggested that the winter flu played a part in more than 1. Only 5. 77 deaths were recorded in the previous winter.

• Dreaded Aussie flu heading towards Britain could kill as many people as the Hong Kong pandemic of 1968, public health expert warns. Professor Robert Dingwall, of.
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Health officials later admitted that the flu vaccine given to millions of patients the previous winter had been ineffective. Initial analysis by Public Health England showed it worked in just 3 per cent of cases, this was later revised up to 3. Normally flu vaccines are effective against two thirds of cases so this was still substantially below average.   WHERE CAN YOU GET THE FLU JAB? Flu can be a serious illness. If you become very ill with it, it can cause complications such as pneumonia, inflammation of the heart, brain or muscle, and kidney failure. People at most risk of serious illness or death if they get flu are offered the vaccine on the NHS. Ideally you should have this before the end of December, when flu peaks (it takes about two weeks after the jab for antibodies to develop completely).

At- risk groups include anyone aged 6. The vaccine is also offered to anyone aged six months to 6. It is available via your GP’s surgery. All children aged two to eleven (on August 3. The UK introduced the child vaccination programme in 2. Australia does not have a similar programme.

If you don’t qualify to have the jab on the NHS, you can pay to get it at a pharmacy. Well Pharmacy charges £9 to £1.

Superdrug from £9. Lloyds Pharmacy £1. Boots £1. 2. 9. 9, and Tesco £9. Older children who fall outside the NHS scheme can get the nasal spray vaccine from some pharmacies such as Well (£2.

Mc. Donald's Confirms Suicidal 'Mc. Donald's Hong Kong' Twitter Account Was a Long- Con Hoax [Updated]This week, an unverified Twitter account claiming to be “Mc. Donald’s Hong Kong,” a real branch of the global fast- food giant, went mad. The account was apparently created in October 2. Big Macs and spicy chicken sandwiches. But then, something odd happened: The official, verified Mc.

Donald’s Corp. Twitter account posted a video of a woman touting the Hong Kong branch’s bakery offerings, tagging the first account. The “Mc. Donald’s Hong Kong” account responded this week, writing “this bitch freakin out about cheesecake while kids out here Mc. Dying. relax”. It soon returned to posting various promotional images of Mc.

Donald’s offerings in Hong Kong. But over the course of the last week, the account began inserting less- than- subtle messages between the promotional tweets. They told a tale of suicidal ideation, glimpses of a shattered family life and the implication someone, possibly Mc. Donald’s Hong Kong, had kidnapped the tweeter’s son.

The pace only picked up this weekend. The account has begun picking up hundreds of followers at lightning speed. In a statement, Mc.

Donald’s told Gizmodo they had nothing to do with “Mc. Watch Nowhere Boys: The Book Of Shadows Online. Donald’s Hong Kong” and said the fun would soon be over.“This is not a Mc. Donald’s Twitter account but one that is impersonating a verified account,” spokesperson Terri Hickey wrote. We are taking steps to have it promptly taken down.” While the account previously used the handle “Mc_Donalds. HK” and contained no warning it was a fake, it has since been updated to “Not.

Mc. Donalds. HK” and to have the words “Parody Account” in its bio. Since the account was registered and sending out Mc. Donald’s- themed tweets long before it was tagged by the official, verified Mc. Donald’s corporate account, it would appear a prankster managed to luck out on a long- con hoax. Mc. Donald’s just launched a delivery service in the US, and its very real Hong Kong branch is in the middle of an upscale “Mc. Donald’s Next” rebranding. In March, another Mc. Donald’s Twitter account called Trump a “disgusting excuse of a President” and added “also you have tiny hands,” but the company later claimed it was hacked.

Update: Mc. Donald’s has confirmed the account was a hoax, not a viral brand stunt, and this post has been updated accordingly. Also, this post has been updated to reflect the handle of the account has changed since this article was written.