Influenza in Queensland, Australia...

Image adapted from Geoscience Australia,
The Australian Government.
http://www-a.ga.gov.au/web_temp/1531782/61756.pdf

Hot, humid and sunny are the conditions here just now. Although some rain around too-stormy rain with big dumps of water an flash flooding. Must be summer.

In the previous week's Queensland Health Statewide Communicable Disease Surveillance Report it looks as though we have a slight uptick in laboratory confirmed influenza cases so far this year (this is in total numbers, not proportions of samples tested, so take the value with a grain of NaCl) compared to the year-to-date totals for 2013 and 2012 in Queensland Australia.

As of the the 13-Jan update (data from 12.1.2014)

• 106 case notifications in 2014
• 73 cases by this time in 2013
• 41 cases by this time in 2012
• 144 cases by this time in 2011
• 21 cases by this time in 2010
• 12 cases by this time in 2009