Australia plans to restrict antiretrovirals to high risk cases as swine flu spreads

Health authorities in Australia are bracing for a fraught winter, as the novel H1N1 influenza A virus spreads alongside seasonal flu.

Although the federal government claims that years of pandemic planning have put Australia among the world’s best prepared nations, the roll out of strategies to contain the virus has been marked by anger and confusion in key sectors, including general practice. The response is complicated by the fact that each of Australia’s eight states and territories has its own pandemic plan in addition to the national one.

More than 1500 cases (as at 15 June) of the H1N1 variant of flu …