Local health officials aren’t too alarmed right now about the potentially deadly Australian Flu (H3N2) which has left some people in the United Kingdom hospitalised and even resulted in at least one death in Ireland.
International media reports indicated that what was being termed the “Aussie Flu” affected about 1 649 people in England and Wales as temperatures dropped over the Christmas period.
Symptoms include a sudden fever, feeling tired or exhausted, dry, chesty coughs, sore throat, headache, difficulty sleeping, loss of appetite, diarrhoea, or tummy pain, and nausea.
Acting Chief Medical Officer Dr Kenneth George said yesterday that while officials here in Barbados were not alarmed, there were teams in place that tracked such medical developments.
“We have a monitoring department and they will bring to my attention issues of public health,” he said.
Given the heavy influx of visitors to Barbados from the United Kingdom around this time, tourism officials were also contacted on this matter.
Chief executive officer of the Barbados Hotel & Tourism Association, Rudy Grant, said the issue had not been highlighted by any of their members so far, but he said he would investigate the matter.
The Daily Mail in London reported yesterday that mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor and his family were among those affected with the Aussie Flu. He recently posted on social media that he was shocked he and some of his relatives had come down with the illness, with some even being hospitalised. He pointed out that he had never been to Australia. (TG)
