Australia has had record flu cases this year – and that’s before winter arrives. What’s going on?

Experts says flu vaccination needs to be a habit, with data showing once someone receives a vaccine one year, they tend to continue it the next. Photograph: Bsip Sa/Alamy

Australia is being struck by a surge in respiratory illnesses, with record breaking inter-seasonal flu cases since the start of the year.

However, flu remains the “underdog of infectious diseases”, in that people underestimate its severity, and as a result vaccinations rates remain stubbornly low, Prof Julie Leask from the University of Sydney says.