Flu outbreak high alert
Influx sparks fears of horror winter season
HEALTH officials fear an influenza outbreak at a Cairns nursing home may be a precursor for a horror winter season of flu this year.
Ten patients from Blue Care Hollingsworth Elder’s Village at Portsmith were hospitalised with symptoms of influenza A early Tuesday morning.
The unprecedented influx of flu patients resulted in a medical emergency “Code Brown” being Cairns Hospital.
Six of those patients have since returned to the nursing home, where the Cairns Tropical Public Health Unit has provided clinical support to prevent the highly contagious disease from spreading further.
The outbreak has added to more than 800 lab-confirmed cases of influenza in the Cairns health district since the start of declared at the year, compared to a year-todate average of about 190 cases.
Infectious diseases physician Dr Trent Yarwood said the tropical public health unit was on alert for whatever the coming winter flu season delivered the region.
“We know whether that will mean a big winter season or whether it will settle down,” he said. “We’re just encouraging people to consider getting the flu vaccination and being aware that washing your hands and staying away from work or school if you are unwell are the most important thing you can do to prevent spreading the flu.”
In early 2016, three people died and up to 60 people fell ill from a respiratory disease outbreak in several nursing homes across the Far North.
Health officials were criticised for not releasing enough public information about the outbreak, including warnings to nursing home visitors.
Dr Yarwood said the current outbreak appeared to be restricted to the Portsmith nursing home and he was not aware of any patient deaths as a result of the flu.
“Whenever there’s a large number of flu cases occurring simultaneously, we have public health response procedures,” he said.
“The public health unit have been informed, we’ve let the team in Brisbane know what’s going on.
“We’re coming to the time of the year where our flu response is starting anyway, so there’s all the procedures being followed.”
editorial@cairnspost.com.au facebook.com/TheCairnsPost www.cairnspost.com.au twitter.com/TheCairnsPost