Flu season has hit hard this year

This year's flu season is already looking to be potentially severe with three times as many cases reported already than there were at the same time last year. In an average year, three to four thousand people will die from flu-related complications. Those most at risk from flu are the very young and the very old - but Australian society suffers greatly as a whole. Influenza is a major cause of both absenteeism and presenteeism during the autumn and winter months, with more than 48 thousand [[48,276]] cases of influenza being reported across the country in 2018 - and that was a quiet year. Absenteeism - that's when a worker is absent from work due to illness - costs seven billion dollars each year in lost wages, while presenteeism - that's when a worker turns up while unwell - costs 34 billion dollars in lost productivity.