Sally Furniss
Well-known member
Victoria's doctors calling for flu supplies
30 May 2009 | 01:26:35 PM | Source: AAP
Victorian doctors on the front line of the growing swine flu outbreak are rapidly running out of masks, gloves and anti-viral drugs, the state's peak medical body says, as Australia's swine cases climbed to 254.
Victoria has the majority of the cases, with 173 people in the state diagnosed with the virus, while NSW recorded 54 cases.
Australian Medical Association Victorian president Dr Harry Hemley says an urgent call has gone out on Saturday for access to federal stockpiles of masks, gowns, gloves and the antiviral drug Tamiflu.
He says back-up supplies have run out and medical staff in the northern suburbs epicentre of the Melbourne outbreak are at risk.
"We're running out of the necessary equipment to help protect the staff and the doctors and the allied health people from contracting the swine flu and also we're running out of masks also to protect our patients in the waiting rooms as well," Dr Hemley said.
"To help limit the spread, it's very important to have that equipment so we're actually calling on the federal government to release their stockpile, certainly to the northern suburbs of Melbourne."
Dr Hemley is a GP in Northcote and has a daughter who attends Clifton Hill Primary School, which has been closed.
"It is ground zero for the outbreak and it's spreading fairly rapidly through the suburbs," he said.
Dr Hemley said while the "contain" response level was adequate at the moment, large-scale quarantining of people exposed to swine flu would not be sustainable.
"I think it's sustainable to a degree (currently), but obviously if it becomes too widespread in the community it won't be practical to quarantine everybody.
However we must remember that the important thing is if you have a cough, please stay at home."
Pacific Dawn docks in Brisbane
An infected person from the ACT was aboard the P&O Pacific Dawn, which docked into Sydney on Monday, Professor Bishop said. The cruise had been to Vanuatu and New Caledonia.
The Pacific Dawn arrived in Brisbane on Saturday morning after management cancelled a cruise to the Great Barrier Reef.
Three crew members have tested positive to the swine flu but Professor Bishop said no passengers from that cruise have so far been identified with the virus.
"The passengers are testing well at the moment," he told reporters in Canberra on Saturday.
Professor Bishop said pregnant women, people with respiratory problems such as asthma or chronic airways disease, and diabetics were particularly suseptible to the swine flu.
Swine flu numbers were likely to rise during winter, he added.
"We'll see this flu becoming more of a dominant flu and what we'll see is it will start to increase in numbers rather like the seasonal flu," Professor Bishop said.
"And like the seasonal flu, everyone knows how to deal with the flu. "It's turning out to be, in Australian hands, quite a mild disease."
As of Saturday night, there were about 15,500 cases of swine flu worldwide, with 99 deaths recorded, Dr Bishop said.
"Speaking to our colleagues around the country, it's quite clear what we've got to focus now on is to understand who's likely not to do so well, and that will be a very small number of cases, but they're the ones we want to jump on and make sure they are treated appropriately."
30 May 2009 | 01:26:35 PM | Source: AAP
Victorian doctors on the front line of the growing swine flu outbreak are rapidly running out of masks, gloves and anti-viral drugs, the state's peak medical body says, as Australia's swine cases climbed to 254.
Victoria has the majority of the cases, with 173 people in the state diagnosed with the virus, while NSW recorded 54 cases.
Australian Medical Association Victorian president Dr Harry Hemley says an urgent call has gone out on Saturday for access to federal stockpiles of masks, gowns, gloves and the antiviral drug Tamiflu.
He says back-up supplies have run out and medical staff in the northern suburbs epicentre of the Melbourne outbreak are at risk.
"We're running out of the necessary equipment to help protect the staff and the doctors and the allied health people from contracting the swine flu and also we're running out of masks also to protect our patients in the waiting rooms as well," Dr Hemley said.
"To help limit the spread, it's very important to have that equipment so we're actually calling on the federal government to release their stockpile, certainly to the northern suburbs of Melbourne."
Dr Hemley is a GP in Northcote and has a daughter who attends Clifton Hill Primary School, which has been closed.
"It is ground zero for the outbreak and it's spreading fairly rapidly through the suburbs," he said.
Dr Hemley said while the "contain" response level was adequate at the moment, large-scale quarantining of people exposed to swine flu would not be sustainable.
"I think it's sustainable to a degree (currently), but obviously if it becomes too widespread in the community it won't be practical to quarantine everybody.
However we must remember that the important thing is if you have a cough, please stay at home."
Pacific Dawn docks in Brisbane
An infected person from the ACT was aboard the P&O Pacific Dawn, which docked into Sydney on Monday, Professor Bishop said. The cruise had been to Vanuatu and New Caledonia.
The Pacific Dawn arrived in Brisbane on Saturday morning after management cancelled a cruise to the Great Barrier Reef.
Three crew members have tested positive to the swine flu but Professor Bishop said no passengers from that cruise have so far been identified with the virus.
"The passengers are testing well at the moment," he told reporters in Canberra on Saturday.
Professor Bishop said pregnant women, people with respiratory problems such as asthma or chronic airways disease, and diabetics were particularly suseptible to the swine flu.
Swine flu numbers were likely to rise during winter, he added.
"We'll see this flu becoming more of a dominant flu and what we'll see is it will start to increase in numbers rather like the seasonal flu," Professor Bishop said.
"And like the seasonal flu, everyone knows how to deal with the flu. "It's turning out to be, in Australian hands, quite a mild disease."
As of Saturday night, there were about 15,500 cases of swine flu worldwide, with 99 deaths recorded, Dr Bishop said.
"Speaking to our colleagues around the country, it's quite clear what we've got to focus now on is to understand who's likely not to do so well, and that will be a very small number of cases, but they're the ones we want to jump on and make sure they are treated appropriately."
