http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/07/16/2627934.htm
Swine flu warning for pregnant women
By Di Bain for The World Today
Posted Thu Jul 16, 2009 3:01pm AEST
Updated Thu Jul 16, 2009 5:44pm AEST
'Bring forward maternity leave if you can' (ABC News)
Audio: Doctors say pregnant women should stay home to avoid swine flu (The World Today) Obstetricians are urging pregnant women to stay home and even bring forward their maternity leave plans to avoid catching swine flu.
The deadly virus is rapidly spreading in Australia and 11 pregnant women are fighting for their lives or in intensive care, while hospital emergency departments struggle to keep up.
As the number of confirmed swine flu cases in Australia marches beyond 10,000, pregnant women are beginning to present at emergency wards.
It is understood that in Victoria, the state which has had the most swine flu related deaths, two women were fighting for their lives in intensive care units last night after giving birth.
The situation in New South Wales is worse - Jeremy McAnulty from the New South Wales Health Service, says doctors are being extra cautious when pregnant women suffer flu-like symptoms.
"My understanding is that there are five in intensive care and four on life support in western Sydney at the moment," he said.
"Of course it is concerning when people are in intensive care, but I guess we have known from seasonal influenza, even before human swine flu, that influenza can be quite a severe illness in pregnant women, particularly in second and third trimesters.
"It's probably related to their immunity changes and their whole system is being overloaded by the pregnancy, and when influenza is on top of that it, can have a big effect on their system and their health."
'Stay at home'
Professor Brian Trudinger from Westmead Hospital in Sydney says staff are trying to manage two pregnant women with swine flu who are in intensive care.
He says most pregnant women in general will not get sick but they should be vigilant because swine flu is much more virulent than the normal flu.
"It's dangerous because ... in pregnancy your body does much more work," he said.
"In other words, things like heart output is increased and blood flow to various organs is increased, blood flow to the placenta is increased and so on, and so if you get a febrile illness on top of that, your body also has to do more work because of the febrile illness.
"So you get one load on top of another load and so you become particularly unwell."
Professor Trudinger says pregnant women should avoid contact with others.
"The message obviously for someone who is pregnant is 'keep away from people'. Send your husband off to do the shopping," he said.
"We're going through a time of troubles and so it's a matter of being careful over the whole of the winter, really.
"It's going to be short-lived, there'll be a vaccine around the corner in due course and we'll cope better with a greater resistance in the community, but for the time being, don't put yourself at risk."
Maternity leave
Ted Weaver from the Royal Australian College of Obstetricians says staying home is a good idea and he is even suggesting women bring forward their maternity leave.
"I think that people should restrict travel, people should restrict contact with others, certainly if they know of their friends or relatives who've got a flu-like illness, they should stay away from them, and I think that sort of self quarantine is quite sensible," he said.
"I think they need to be careful when they're out, I think they need to be really scrupulous with personal hygiene, they need to make sure they keep their bedding and what not well turned over so there's clean sheets, clean linen, clean towels, wash their handkerchiefs regularly and just adopt very scrupulous personal hygiene measures.
"And [they should] stay away from crowded places as much as they can. That's not to say that they have to completely quarantine themselves, but certainly I think that if they don't have to go out then that's a reasonably sensible option."
He says he thinks it is a good idea for women to bring forward their maternity leave if they can.
"It would have to be I suppose a woman's estimation of her risk. I mean, if she's working for instance in a wholly public place where she has lots of contact with different members of the public, that may be a reasonable option," he said.
"That would have to be taken in consolation with her employer but I think in the end that may be a sensible thing."
However some women say staying at home or taking maternity leave early is not practical.
Catherine Ramsbottom is 20 weeks pregnant and she is caring for three young children.
"To me that's just completely impractical to say that to people," she said.
"How can I stay home for that length of time? I won't be locking myself at home to try and escape getting swine flu.
"I'll be steering clear of people who are known to be ill so that they're not passing on any germs to me as much as I can."
Swine flu warning for pregnant women
By Di Bain for The World Today
Posted Thu Jul 16, 2009 3:01pm AEST
Updated Thu Jul 16, 2009 5:44pm AEST
'Bring forward maternity leave if you can' (ABC News)
Audio: Doctors say pregnant women should stay home to avoid swine flu (The World Today) Obstetricians are urging pregnant women to stay home and even bring forward their maternity leave plans to avoid catching swine flu.
The deadly virus is rapidly spreading in Australia and 11 pregnant women are fighting for their lives or in intensive care, while hospital emergency departments struggle to keep up.
As the number of confirmed swine flu cases in Australia marches beyond 10,000, pregnant women are beginning to present at emergency wards.
It is understood that in Victoria, the state which has had the most swine flu related deaths, two women were fighting for their lives in intensive care units last night after giving birth.
The situation in New South Wales is worse - Jeremy McAnulty from the New South Wales Health Service, says doctors are being extra cautious when pregnant women suffer flu-like symptoms.
"My understanding is that there are five in intensive care and four on life support in western Sydney at the moment," he said.
"Of course it is concerning when people are in intensive care, but I guess we have known from seasonal influenza, even before human swine flu, that influenza can be quite a severe illness in pregnant women, particularly in second and third trimesters.
"It's probably related to their immunity changes and their whole system is being overloaded by the pregnancy, and when influenza is on top of that it, can have a big effect on their system and their health."
'Stay at home'
Professor Brian Trudinger from Westmead Hospital in Sydney says staff are trying to manage two pregnant women with swine flu who are in intensive care.
He says most pregnant women in general will not get sick but they should be vigilant because swine flu is much more virulent than the normal flu.
"It's dangerous because ... in pregnancy your body does much more work," he said.
"In other words, things like heart output is increased and blood flow to various organs is increased, blood flow to the placenta is increased and so on, and so if you get a febrile illness on top of that, your body also has to do more work because of the febrile illness.
"So you get one load on top of another load and so you become particularly unwell."
Professor Trudinger says pregnant women should avoid contact with others.
"The message obviously for someone who is pregnant is 'keep away from people'. Send your husband off to do the shopping," he said.
"We're going through a time of troubles and so it's a matter of being careful over the whole of the winter, really.
"It's going to be short-lived, there'll be a vaccine around the corner in due course and we'll cope better with a greater resistance in the community, but for the time being, don't put yourself at risk."
Maternity leave
Ted Weaver from the Royal Australian College of Obstetricians says staying home is a good idea and he is even suggesting women bring forward their maternity leave.
"I think that people should restrict travel, people should restrict contact with others, certainly if they know of their friends or relatives who've got a flu-like illness, they should stay away from them, and I think that sort of self quarantine is quite sensible," he said.
"I think they need to be careful when they're out, I think they need to be really scrupulous with personal hygiene, they need to make sure they keep their bedding and what not well turned over so there's clean sheets, clean linen, clean towels, wash their handkerchiefs regularly and just adopt very scrupulous personal hygiene measures.
"And [they should] stay away from crowded places as much as they can. That's not to say that they have to completely quarantine themselves, but certainly I think that if they don't have to go out then that's a reasonably sensible option."
He says he thinks it is a good idea for women to bring forward their maternity leave if they can.
"It would have to be I suppose a woman's estimation of her risk. I mean, if she's working for instance in a wholly public place where she has lots of contact with different members of the public, that may be a reasonable option," he said.
"That would have to be taken in consolation with her employer but I think in the end that may be a sensible thing."
However some women say staying at home or taking maternity leave early is not practical.
Catherine Ramsbottom is 20 weeks pregnant and she is caring for three young children.
"To me that's just completely impractical to say that to people," she said.
"How can I stay home for that length of time? I won't be locking myself at home to try and escape getting swine flu.
"I'll be steering clear of people who are known to be ill so that they're not passing on any germs to me as much as I can."
