Science Media Centre

Kate Newton writes in the Dominion Post about University of Otago researchers’ finding that last year’s public health campaign around preventing the spread of flu was largely ineffective in Wellington. Most people, observed at Wellington railway station, a central city foodcourt and Wellington Hospital, ignored even the most basic of messages, such as covering their [...]

John Gibb writes in the Otago Daily Times about the slight rise in flu-like illnesses being reported among patients in among patients in Otago-Southland, the uptake of the seasonal flu vaccine, and the absence of swine flu cases in the region. An excerpt: (read in full here) “However, there had been no recent confirmed cases [...]

Swine flu – lessons one year on This time last year, as Kiwis prepared to attend weekend dawn parade and RSA dinners in celebration of ANZAC Day, a public health issue was brewing that would quickly come to dominate headlines globally. In hindsight, it’s easy to for critics to take pot shots at the scale [...]

UPDATED 12.30pm: A year ago this Saturday, Rangitoto College students returning from a school trip to Mexico were quarantined in home isolation, with suspected cases of H1N1 swine influenza. By the end of 2009, the strain of flu the students were infected with had swept the world, claiming the lives of 17,798 people, including 20 [...]

Martin Johnston writes in the New Zealand Herald that the Ministry of Health is urging people to get their flu shots soon, in light of their prediction that flu could begin surfacing again by the end of this month. It is hoped that such behaviour could give New Zealand its best chance to getting through [...]