NEWS YOU CAN USE? How people born before 1968 are more at risk of getting nasty ‘Aussie flu.’

One risk factor may be whether you were born before 1968. An adult’s chances of falling ill from a strain of flu are at least partly determined by the first ever type of virus they encountered as a child.

“Our best immune response will be to those viral infections we acquired first,” said Dr Cillian de Gascun, head of the National Virus Reference Laboratory in UCD.

“People born before 1968 would have been exposed to influenza A (H1N1) or A (H2N2) in their childhood.

“As such, in simple terms their immunological memory response is probably suboptimal for A (H3N2).

“This might explain why the disease affects this age group disproportionately.”

Whatever year you were born, don’t mess around with the flu.