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THE devastating killer flu outbreak that swept America is headed to our shores and will claim lives, Australian doctors warn.

The H3N2 influenza virus that killed 20 children in the US and led to vaccine shortages across the country in December and January is expected to arrive in Australia within weeks, and Australian Medical Association Dr Steve Hambleton says we shouldn't be complacent.

"It's absolutely true (that it is a killer flu), and some of the people reading this might be the victims, I'm sorry to say. It will kill people," he said.

Dr Hambleton said influenza killed an average of 85 Australians each year, with a further 3000 in the most vulnerable over-50 age group dying annually as an indirect result of flu, such as from complications and secondary infections.

He said those numbers could rise with this year's flu season.

"When you get a change (in a virus) of a significant type you get more deaths, because people aren't ready or the vaccines don't match as well. So yes, there is always a concern with flu on the way every winter."

Dr Hambleton said while Australian doctors had "plenty" of vaccine in stock to combat any outbreak, the recent resurgence of the anti-vaccination debate could have a devastating effect on the spread of the virus.

"Children are super-spreaders of the flu. An adult might spread the flu for a week, little kids will spread the flu for three weeks, school children will spread the flu for two weeks," he said.

"We'd absolutely recommend children be vaccinated."

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Super flu looms and 'it will kill people'

Influenza has claimed the life of one Cantabrian two months before the annual flu season is set to strike.

News of the death comes as unprecedented numbers of Kiwis are lining up for the flu jab and as new figures reveal five Cantabrians died from influenza-associated illnesses last year.

The Press understands Carole Mary Burgess, who was in her mid-70s, contracted the deadly H3N2 influenza virus before she died in Christchurch Hospital on March 27.

Bereaved family members confirmed Burgess was diagnosed with influenza but that they did not want to comment further.

Last year Canterbury was hit with an influenza H3N2 outbreak four times the national average and 347 people wound up in hospital.

The flu strain then hit the United States, where hundreds of people died from influenza-associated illnesses, including more than 100 children.

As New Zealand prepares for its second bout of the killer flu strain, a Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB) preliminary internal review shows five Cantabrians who died last year had laboratory-confirmed influenza.

CDHB clinical virologist Lance Jennings also confirmed a laboratory test had found one patient in Christchurch died from influenza H3N2 last month.

Influenza can infect Kiwis throughout the year and is often spread by travellers returning from overseas or disembarking cruise ships, he said.

The normal influenza season begins in June and Jennings urged Cantabrians to get immunised as soon as possible because the seasonal vaccine "provides our best protection against influenza".

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Flu virus strain kills one Cantab

The new bird influenza thats killed six people in eastern China has some of the genetic hallmarks of an easily transmissible virus, according to the scientist who showed how H5N1 avian flu could become airborne.

The H7N9 strain, which is a new virus formed as a result of two others merging their genetic material, has features of viruses that are known to jump easily from birds to mammals, and a mutation that may help it attach to cells in the respiratory tract, said Ron Fouchier, a professor of molecular virology at Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands, in a telephone interview yesterday.

Thats certainly not good news, said Fouchier, who reviewed a gene sequencing of H7N9 published by Chinese health authorities. This virus really doesnt look like a bird virus anymore; it looks like a mammalian virus.

To curb the spread of H7N9, Shanghai, Hangzhou and Nanjing, cities with confirmed human cases of the virus, have halted trading in live poultry, closed bird markets and slaughtered more than 20,000 fowl. Shanghai today reported two new infections, taking Chinas tally to 18, according to data compiled by Bloomberg News from reports released by the national and provincial governments.

The outbreak caused soybean futures and airline stocks to fall yesterday on concern the virus may spark a pandemic.

While theres no evidence yet of human-to-human transmission, scientists are scrutinizing the viruss genetic makeup for clues to the threat it may pose.

Fouchier authored a study last year that showed five genetic tweaks to the deadly H5N1 virus, which has killed more than 600 people since 2003, made it airborne in ferrets, the mammals whose response to flu most closely resembles that of humans.

One of the mutations he made is in an enzyme called polymerase; another was in a protein called hemagglutinin on the surface of the virus. H7N9 has both mutations, he said.

This virus is certainly of more concern than the vast majority of bird flu viruses, Fouchier said. Most bird flu viruses that we know do not have these mutations.

Whether those mutations alone are enough to make the virus easily transmissible isnt clear, and should be high on the research agenda, Fouchier said. Still, theres no evidence yet that the virus is more likely to become more dangerous than H5N1, he said.

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New Bird Flu Seen Having Some Markers of Airborne Killer

SAN DIEGO Scientists at the University of California San Diego are conducting a clinical trial to see if genetically engineered smallpox virus can be used to fight liver cancer.

This clinical trial is evaluating a drug already known to be safe as a vaccine. We are applying it as a potential destructive agent for liver cancer, said Tony Reid, MD, PhD, a professor of medicine at the UCSD School of Medicine. The goal of the trial is to evaluate if (the vaccine) can extend patients survival through its ability to selectively target and kill cancer cells, cut off the tumors blood supply, and activate the bodys own immune system to fight the cancer.

The scientists hope that Pexa-Vec, a genetically engineered virus used in smallpox vaccine, will slow the progression of liver cancer. To qualify for the randomized clinical trial, liver cancer patients have to be unresponsive to sorafenib, the only drug treatment currently approved by the FDA for liver cancer.

Patients who are eligible for the Phase 2b trial must have a diagnosis of HCC and have been found to be unresponsive to sorafenib, the only systemic therapy currently approved by the FDA.

The trial will compare the survival rate for patients receiving Pexa-Vec with those receiving no drug treatment other than pain management. Pexa-Vec will be given both intravenously and injected directly into the tumor during the 18-week test. Common side effects include flu-like symptoms including fevers, chills and fatigue that generally last less than 24 hours, researchers said.

Experts say liver cancer is the third deadliest cancer world-wide. Of the estimated 22,000 Americans diagnosed with the disease last year, about 16,000 people died.

For more information about this clinical trial at UC San Diego Moores Cancer, call 858-822-5354 or go to http://traversetrial.com.

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Scientists test smallpox vaccine as cancer killer

New Zealanders are to be tested for a new strain of bird flu that has already killed six people in China.

Scientists at the National Centre for Biosecurity and Infectious Disease in Upper Hutt will test people with severe acute respiratory infection that show signs of certain strains of influenza A.

Dr Sue Huang, director of World Health Organisation National Influenza centre in Wellington, stressed there were no signs of the bird flu in New Zealand and the tests were precautionary.

"We are in contact with our international colleagues to learn more about this new strain as well as providing precautionary monitoring for any sign of the virus here."

Until recently, the new flu strains were thought to be restricted to birds but an outburst of human cases have arisen in Shanghai and nearby cities.

So far, there have been 21 confirmed human cases, including six deaths from the virus. Chinese authorities have slaughtered tens of thousand of birds in Shanghai's poultry market in an attempt to contain the virus.

Huang said New Zealand scientists would be working with their international colleagues to study the new virus and determined the best way of protecting against its spread.

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New Zealanders to be tested for killer bird flu