Tests Into Two Deaths, As Govt Releases Flu Drug Stockpile

BRISBANE—Tests are being carried out to determine whether two adult patients in south-east Queensland died from influenza.

A spokesman for Queensland Health Minister Stephen Robertson said tests were still being carried out after the deaths of two people, reportedly aged in their 30s.

"We don't know if there's any link to flu," the spokesman said.

The Courier-Mail online reported the patients had shown flu-like symptoms.

South-east Queensland, like much of Australia, is in the grip of the worst outbreak of flu in six years, with almost 2,000 cases recorded already this year - more than double the 700 cases usually noted by mid-August.

Two other Queenslanders - a 37-year-old man and a four-year-old boy - have already died from the flu in the past fortnight.

The deaths, as well as concerns of an outbreak in aged care facilities, have compelled the Queensland government to make available its stockpile of the treatment drug Tamiflu.

Queensland Health already has dipped into the government stockpile to give Tamiflu to residents of a private aged care home in Brisbane's west.

Premier Peter Beattie said the government was responding to concerns that pharmacists were having difficulty filling prescriptions for Tamiflu.

Mr Beattie said the government had contacted drug companies to expedite supplies to Queensland chemists.

In the meantime, the government would make available its reserves of 40,000 courses.

"It's important that we do our bit, basically," Mr Beattie told reporters in Brisbane today.

"We know that people are trying to get access to it and we don't want people to feel desperate in these circumstances, we want them to know we are moving to fix it."

Mr Beattie said he would also write to Prime Minister John Howard asking that the national reserves of the treatment also be made available for aged care facilities.

Queensland opposition health spokesman John-Paul Langbroek said the government had failed to provide any public education or presentation guidelines for the flu.

He said emergency departments and medical centres were stretched to full capacity now, and would be unable to cope in the event of a major epidemic.

"Effectively, the message has been `If you're sick, go to hospital'," Mr Langbroek said.

"However, in a serious epidemic health services cannot be provided under those circumstances and this is a recipe for complete chaos."