A group of fruit pickers are on the mend after a nasty flu bug has swept through Hawke’s Bay seasonal workers, with two people confirmed as having H1N1, also known as swine flu.
In total, 80 Pacific seasonal workers were taken out by a bout of influenza.
Thornhill Horticulture Contracting lost 31 of it’s Pacific seasonal staff to the virus, which is currently circulating in Hawke’s Bay.
"About 10 per cent of our workers were hit and obviously our field reps really struggled to get our teams the numbers we need," managing director Richard Barry told 1 NEWS.
Hawke’s Bay DHB’s Medical Officer of Health Nick Jones says the outbreak is unusual for this time of year and tests have come back as positive for the H1N1 influenza strain, known as swine flu.
He says the workers may have brought it into the country.
"We understand there has been influenza cases in Australia and influenza activity in the Pacific, it is possible its linked to either of those events."
A routine clinic's been set up in Hastings dealing with two people needing to stay overnight in hospital.
"We’ve seen a group of patients that present with fever, body aches and pains and feeling very unwell, coughing and some have even signs of vomiting," Dr Pauline Teong, who is overseeing the clinic told 1 NEWS.
With workers needing to be kept in isolation, the timing couldn't be worse for an industry already 400 workers short.
"It won’t be pretty and the boys are going to be working a few extra hours to get to where we need to be with the pick," Mr Barry said.
A seasonal labour shortage declared in the region means tourists can now apply to work on orchards.
Immigration NZ says over 100 people have already applied for a variation of their visa to work here.
The fruit picked is not a health risk as it's well washed before sale
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