tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
New research shows the Northern Territory's Indigenous population recorded the highest hospital admission rates for swine flu in Australia.
The research was conducted by the Menzies School of Health Research, the Northern Territory Centre for Disease Control and the Royal Darwin Hospital.
It shows 161 patients were admitted to Top End hospitals for swine flu last year, of whom about 72 per cent were Indigenous.
The hospitalisation rate was 12 times greater for Indigenous people than non-Indigenous people.
The study's co-author Steven Tong says poor living conditions are partly to blame.
"A lot of the houses don't have adequate facilities to wash hands and shower," he said.
"Only 50 per cent have tubs and baths to wash the kids in and only about 30 per cent have showers that actually work.
"So a combination of those things means that it's the perfect environment for something like influenza to spread from one person to another."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/04/22/2880241.htm
The research was conducted by the Menzies School of Health Research, the Northern Territory Centre for Disease Control and the Royal Darwin Hospital.
It shows 161 patients were admitted to Top End hospitals for swine flu last year, of whom about 72 per cent were Indigenous.
The hospitalisation rate was 12 times greater for Indigenous people than non-Indigenous people.
The study's co-author Steven Tong says poor living conditions are partly to blame.
"A lot of the houses don't have adequate facilities to wash hands and shower," he said.
"Only 50 per cent have tubs and baths to wash the kids in and only about 30 per cent have showers that actually work.
"So a combination of those things means that it's the perfect environment for something like influenza to spread from one person to another."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/04/22/2880241.htm