They’re the four letters that can save your life.

ECMO – the extra-corporeal membrane oxygenator – is the machine that saves around 70 people per year from viruses like swine flu.

After a Preston woman contracted swine flu in China, Ross and John wanted to find out more about the machine.

Dr Vin Pelligrino from the Alfred said fortunately Australians don’t need the machine as much as people around the world.

‘The better your primary healthcare is… the less need you have for going on to these things,’ Dr Pelligrino said.

‘It’s not a good thing to get sick and need it.’

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