Three cases of a new strain of the flu bug which has just caused the worst outbreak of flu in Australia for five years have now been reported in the Republic.
The National Disease Surveillance Centre (NDSC) confirmed the cases yesterday in its latest flu report.
The new strain is a type of Influenza A (H3N2) which originated in the Fujian province of China. It is referred to as A/Fujian/411/2002.
The cases confirmed here occurred among pupils attending a Dublin boarding school last month. All students affected have recovered.
The NDSC said yesterday there had been three school outbreaks of influenza in the State since the beginning of September. The first occurred at a secondary school in Naas, Co Kildare, in early September, which closed for a number of days to contain the illness. A total of 160 students of Naas CBS and four teachers were reported to have been ill, and some 23 of the students were hospitalised.
Throat swabs and blood samples were sent to the Virus Reference Laboratory for analysis, and it emerged that the outbreak had been caused by Influenza A (H3N2). Investigations are now continuing to see if the virus strain is of the Fujian type.
The second school outbreak began around September 7th among pupils of a Dublin boarding school, St Columba's in Rathfarnham. Over 80 pupils as well as one member of staff were affected. The influenza strain in this outbreak has been confirmed as A/Fujian/411/2002 (H3N2).
A further outbreak was reported at Scoil Cormac in Cashel, Co Tipperary, last week and the school closed for a number of days. It is too early to say yet what type of flu is involved in this instance.
Dr Joan O'Donnell, public health specialist with the NDSC, said yesterday there was no cause for alarm. "There is nothing to indicate it's a killer at the moment," she said.
The new strain was caused by "minor changes" in an earlier strain of the virus, and such changes were normal from one season to the next.
However, she urged those in at risk groups to get the flu vaccine immediately. These would include people over the age of 65, young chronic sick and those with heart conditions, asthma or diabetes.
While the flu vaccine did not totally protect against the new strain it would, she said, offer "cross-protective immunity" because much of the strain would be the same as before.
Dr O'Donnell said it was impossible to predict at this stage how much flu activity to expect here this winter. While activity had been higher than normal so far this year, it was important to note that it had been very low over the past two years, she said.
Apart from cases here and in Australia, where a number of hospitals had to postpone non-urgent surgery due to demand for beds from patients suffering from flu, cases have also been reported in Korea, Japan, and New Zealand. Three have also been confirmed in the UK.
Symptoms of the illness include headache, high temperature, muscle pains, cough, sore throat and a general feeling of being unwell. Anyone with these symptoms should contact their doctor, Dr O'Donnell said.
The Department of Health, in a statement, said every flu had the potential to be very dangerous, in particular in "at risk" patients, and it urged those patients to have the flu vaccine without delay.