Sally Furniss
Well-known member
Doctor urges Tamiflu exceptions for remote Indigenous communities
The head of the Northern Territory's Centre for Disease Control says there should be exceptions to rules on giving out Tamiflu to suspected swine flu sufferers in remote Indigenous communities.
The Central Australian Aboriginal Congress says a Federal Government decision last week means doctors can not offer Tamiflu to patients unless they fit a "critical case criteria".
Disease Control Centre head Dr Vicki Krause says exceptions should be extended to Indigenous communities where up to 50 per cent of people have underlying health risk factors.
She says while many remote Indigenous swine flu sufferers may recover quite easily, they will put others they live with at risk.
"It might be in such settings that household members who would be putting these people at risk... have to be looked at should they be presenting within influenza like symptoms," she said.
"So in a collective sense, looking at this community as a vulnerable community as well as the individuals as being vulnerable."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/06/23/2606470.htm
The head of the Northern Territory's Centre for Disease Control says there should be exceptions to rules on giving out Tamiflu to suspected swine flu sufferers in remote Indigenous communities.
The Central Australian Aboriginal Congress says a Federal Government decision last week means doctors can not offer Tamiflu to patients unless they fit a "critical case criteria".
Disease Control Centre head Dr Vicki Krause says exceptions should be extended to Indigenous communities where up to 50 per cent of people have underlying health risk factors.
She says while many remote Indigenous swine flu sufferers may recover quite easily, they will put others they live with at risk.
"It might be in such settings that household members who would be putting these people at risk... have to be looked at should they be presenting within influenza like symptoms," she said.
"So in a collective sense, looking at this community as a vulnerable community as well as the individuals as being vulnerable."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/06/23/2606470.htm