What can I claim secondary to influenza?
4 conditions in the Repatriation Medical Authority's Statements of Principles list influenza as a factor. If DVA has accepted your influenza, each of these has a documented pathway to a further claim.
At a glance
- Accepted conditionInfluenza
- Conditions it may open4
- SourceRMA SoPs
- Chart Review$600 + GST
How a secondary claim works
Some Statement of Principles factors are not about service at all — they name another condition. Where DVA has already accepted your influenza, and another condition's SoP lists influenza as a factor, that part of the next claim is already established on your file. How a secondary claim works, in full →
Conditions that list influenza as a factor
Quoted from the instrument. A pathway existing is not the same as a claim succeeding — each factor carries thresholds your record has to satisfy.
Atrial fibrillation and atrial flutter
RH No. 1 of 2023 · BoP No. 2 of 2023
Reasonable Hypothesis — factor (44): “Having a viral lower respiratory tract infection within the 30 days before the clinical onset of atrial fibrillation or atrial flutter; Note; Examples of causes of viral lower respiratory tract infections include severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and influenza virus” [clinical onset]
This factor appears in the Reasonable Hypothesis instrument only, which applies to operational service.
Ischaemic heart disease
RH No. 27 of 2025 · BoP No. 28 of 2025
Reasonable Hypothesis — factor (57): “having influenza or a lower respiratory tract infection within the 30 days before the clinical onset or the clinical worsening of acute coronary syndrome (including myocardial infarction) or sudden death from ischaemic heart disease” [onset and worsening]
Balance of Probabilities — factor (40): “having influenza or a lower respiratory tract infection within the 30 days before the clinical onset or the clinical worsening of acute coronary syndrome (including myocardial infarction) or sudden death from ischaemic heart disease” [onset and worsening]
Narcolepsy
RH No. 11 of 2022 · BoP No. 12 of 2022
Reasonable Hypothesis — factor (6): “receiving the adjuvanted influenza H1N1 vaccine PandemrixTM within the 2 years before the clinical onset of narcolepsy” [clinical onset] — factor (7): “having infection with H1N1 influenza virus within the 2 years before the clinical onset of narcolepsy” [clinical onset] — factor (14): “receiving the adjuvanted influenza H1N1 vaccine PandemrixTM within the 2 years before the clinical worsening of narcolepsy” [worsening] — factor (15): “having infection with H1N1 influenza virus within the 2 years before the clinical worsening of narcolepsy” [worsening]
Balance of Probabilities — factor (6): “receiving the adjuvanted influenza H1N1 vaccine PandemrixTM within the 2 years before the clinical onset of narcolepsy” [clinical onset] — factor (13): “receiving the adjuvanted influenza H1N1 vaccine PandemrixTM within the 2 years before the clinical worsening of narcolepsy” [worsening]
Parkinson's disease and secondary parkinsonism
RH No. 55 of 2016
Reasonable Hypothesis — factor (2): “for secondary parkinsonism only: (a) having an episode of acute cholinergic poisoning from exposure to an organophosphorus ester within the three months before the clinical onset of secondary parkinsonism; (b) having moderate to severe traumatic brain injury within the one year before the clinical onset of secondary parkinsonism; (c) having an intracranial space occupying lesion within the three months before the clinical onset of secondary parkinsonism; (d) having hydrocephalus, or draining of hydrocephalus, within the three months before the clinical onset of secondary parkinsonism; (e) having a cerebrovascular accident, excluding transient ischaemic attack, within the five years before the clinical onset of secondary parkinsonism; (f) having a disease from the specified list of diseases involving the cerebral vessels, in the presence of neuroimaging findings of brain stem or cerebral white matter lesions, haemorrhage or infarction, at the time of the clinical onset of secondary parkinsonism; (g) having a subarachnoid haemorrhage within the three months before the clinical onset of secondary parkinsonism; (h) having an acquired cerebrovascular malformation or dural arteriovenous fistula at the time of the clinical onset of secondary parkinsonism; (i) having an hypoxic cerebral insult within the two years before the clinical onset of secondary parkinsonism; (j) having influenza within the three months before the clinical onset of secondary parkinsonism; (k) having encephalitis within the three months before the clinical onset of secondary parkinsonism; (l) being infected with the human immunodeficiency virus before the clinical onset of secondary parkinsonism; Parkinson's Disease and Secondary Parkinsonism (Reasonable Hypothesis) (No. 55 of 2016) Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986 (m) having neurosyphilis at the time of the clinical onset of secondary parkinsonism; (n) having neurocysticercosis at the time of the clinical onset of secondary parkinsonism; (o) inhaling carbon disulphide vapour in an enclosed space, or having cutaneous contact with carbon disulphide, for a cumulative period of at least 500 hours, within the ten years before the clinical onset of secondary parkinsonism; (p) inhaling trichloroethylene vapour in an enclosed space, or having cutaneous contact with trichloroethylene, for a cumulative period of at least 2 000 hours, within the 20 years before the clinical onset of secondary parkinsonism; (q) inhaling or ingesting methanol or ethylene glycol, and having clinical, haematological or biochemical evidence of methanol or ethylene glycol intoxication, within the three months before the clinical onset of secondary parkinsonism; (r) being exposed to manganese as specified for a cumulative period of at least 250 hours, within the ten years before the clinical onset of secondary parkinsonism; (s) having clinical or biochemical evidence of manganese intoxication while receiving total parenteral nutrition or maintenance haemodialysis, at the time of the clinical onset of secondary parkinsonism; (t) inhaling, ingesting or having cutaneous contact with cyanide, and having clinical, haematological or biochemical evidence of cyanide intoxication, within the three months before the clinical onset of secondary parkinsonism; (u) having an injection containing 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6- tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) within the three months before the clinical onset of secondary parkinsonism; (v) using khat (Catha edulis), Ecstasy (3,4- methylenedioxymethamphetamine) or the drug methcathinone (ephedrone) within the three months before the clinical onset of secondary parkinsonism; Parkinson's Disease and Secondary Parkinsonism (Reasonable Hypothesis) (No. 55 of 2016) Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986 (w) taking a drug or a drug from a class of drugs from the specified list of drugs, for a continuous period of at least seven days within the three months before the clinical onset of secondary parkinsonism; (x) having a disorder of calcium metabolism from the specified list of disorders of calcium metabolism at the time of the clinical onset of secondary parkinsonism; (y) having cirrhosis of the liver at the time of the clinical onset of secondary parkinsonism; (z) having chronic renal failure at the time of the clinical onset of secondary parkinsonism; (aa) having a disease from the specified list of autoimmune diseases at the time of the clinical onset of secondary parkinsonism; or (bb) having a paraneoplastic encephalomyelitis at the time of the clinical onset of secondary parkinsonism” [clinical onset] — factor (13): “having influenza within the three months before the clinical worsening of Parkinson's disease or secondary parkinsonism” [worsening]
This factor appears in the Reasonable Hypothesis instrument only, which applies to operational service.
Note: acute cholinergic poisoning and organophosphorus ester are defined in the Schedule 1 - Dictionary.
Other accepted conditions that also open atrial fibrillation and atrial flutter
If any of these is also on your file, it reaches some of the same conditions influenza does.
What DVA means by influenza
A claim is tested against the definition first. If the diagnosis on your file does not meet this wording, the factors below never get reached — so it is worth checking that what your doctor wrote matches what the instrument requires.
Influenza, for the purposes of the Statement of Principles, for the purposes of this Statement of Principles, influenza means: (a) an acute respiratory tract infection due to the influenza virus and characterised by fever, cough, shortness of breath, headaches, myalgia, conjunctivitis and pneumonia; and (b) includes infection with human and animal influenza subtypes.
Aggravation-only factors. In this instrument, subsections 9(6) apply only to material contribution to, or aggravation of, influenza where it was already present before or during service. If service caused influenza outright, those factors are not available to you.
RH No. 44 of 2017 · BoP No. 45 of 2017 · 6 factors
Reviewed by Dr Thomas Perkins
Founding doctor, Veterans Health Centre · former RAAF aviation medical officer · 13 years working exclusively with ADF members and veterans. Full profile →
Influenza accepted?
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