Update: Since the recording of this episode early 2018, Dr Sutton has been promoted to the role of Victoria's Chief Health Officer.
Influenza is a viral disease that causes widespread illness every year and can affect people of all ages and levels of health.
In 2017 Australia saw the highest level of influenza infection since the 2009 pandemic flu season with more than 233,000 confirmed cases of influenza, compared to the 2016 season that saw over 87,000. What exactly is influenza? Why do we need to get vaccinated against it every year? How do we stop the spread of it? What is being done about it?
To answer these questions we spoke with two experts, Victoria’s Deputy Chief Health Officer of Communicable Disease, then a world leading expert who runs the World Health Organisation’s Collaborating Centre on Influenza from the Doherty Institute, to get the science behind the evolving flus that we see each year.
