The Lifeboat News: "Aussie Flu"

2018: "Despite being super careful and washing hands constantly, I got a flu strain. 3+ weeks of being completely dysfunctional. By far the most ill I've been for 15+ years, the last time i had flu. The symptoms were blinding headache, fever, high temperature 39deg, body/skin aches, poor cognitive state and incessant very painful cough. In bed for four days initially, then very weak and tired. The weezy cough has lasted 3 weeks, just starting to feel normal again but far from 100% I can see how vulnerable people with poor immune systems could succumb to this because the cough can easily become a serious lung infection like pneumonia".

Article from 2018 https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-5440785/Killer-flu-outbreak-blame-42-spike-deaths.html

Killer flu outbreak is to blame for a 42% spike in deaths in January 2018 after 64,000 people died - the highest number since records began

-- Government data shows 64,157 people died in January - the highest since 2006
-- It is only the second time the toll has breached the 60,000 mark, figures reveal
-- 'Circulating influenza' was blamed, released by the Office for National Statistics

27 February 2018 -- THE killer flu outbreak is to blame for a 42 per cent spike in deaths across England and Wales, statisticians claim.

Government figures reveal 64,157 people died in January - significantly higher than the death toll of 45,141 recorded in December.

It is the highest number since records began in 2006 - and only the second time it has breached 60,000.

'Circulating influenza' was blamed in the report, released today and compiled using data of deaths from each region.

It showed deaths were higher than levels recorded during the Swine flu pandemic in 2010 - considered the worst outbreak in recent years. [...][..]

H3N2 - Dubbed ‘Aussie flu’ after it struck Australia hard last winter, this strain is more likely to affect the elderly, who do not respond well to the current vaccine. This is one of the most common strains seen so far this winter, with at least 63 confirmed cases seen in official laboratories.

H1N1 - This strain – known as ‘swine flu’ - is generally more likely to hit children, who respond well to vaccination. This has been seen nearly as often as H3N2 so far this year, with at least 50 cases confirmed in labs. In the past it was commonly caught from pigs, but that changed in 2009 when it started spreading rapidly among humans in a major global pandemic.

B / Yamagata - This is known as 'Japanese flu'. Only people who received the ‘four strain’ vaccine - which is being slowly rolled out after it was introduced for the first time last winter - are protected against the Yamagata strain. Those who received the normal ‘three strain’ vaccine are not protected. This strain has been seen in at least 63 lab cases so far this winter.