Via Cairns.com.au: Manunda swine-flu sufferer urges vaccination. Excerpt:
Swine flu sufferer Zac Forster wouldn’t wish the virus he caught late last year on anybody.
The 23-year-old from Manunda was one of the hundreds of Cairns residents who contracted the virus last year.
During the first wave of the pandemic last year, 41 Queenslanders died from swine flu including seven people in Cairns.
In Zac’s case, H1N1 left him bed-ridden for two weeks.
“I was still feeling the effects for some time,” Zac said. “I had aches and pains all over and kept having hot and cold flushes.”
Only 15 per cent of Far Northern residents have been vaccinated against swine flu and doctors fear the region may be ill-equipped for future outbreaks. Another wave is expected by the end of March.
Zac, who is now vaccinated against the H1N1 human swine influenza, said it was important for everyone to be vaccinated against the virus.
“The pain I went through having this virus, it’s not worth not being
vaccinated,” he said.
