HEALTH CHIEFS READY TO FACE DEADLY FLU VIRUS THREAT

PALMA
ELDERLY people and medical staff are being warned to have an anti-flu jab in a bid to prevent the spread of a new strain of the illness.
The vaccine, which is available from tomorrow, aims to prevent the new Brisbane H3N2 strain of the virus, which ravaged parts of Australia last year, and two other forms of the illness which are expected to strike those at risk.

Experts fear that the region is set to suffer a major outbreak of the illness, described as more deadly than any seen in the past 20 years, after escaping relatively unscathed over the last few winters. “Sooner or later we will have a big outbreak and the more cases there are, the more deaths there are,” warned a health spokesman.