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LGH monitors influenza A among staff
By RAELENE MOREY , Wednesday, 6 September 2006
PROTOCOLS: Stephen Ayre
http://www.examiner.com.au/story.asp?id=359962
E-mail the Editor
editor@examiner.com.au
Two staff members and a patient at Launceston General Hospital have contracted the highly contagious influenza A virus.
The virus was confirmed at the hospital yesterday after swabs taken 10 days ago from the infected staff and patient were identified as influenza A.
Hospital chief executive Dr Stephen Ayre said his main concern was that the virus could spread among staff.
"If it spreads among our staff, we can't continue our services. If we have a lot of our staff off sick, then, for example, we have to close beds or decrease our elective surgery," Dr Ayre said.
"We have had a number of staff off this week but we're managing to scrape by."
Dr Ayre suspected the virus entered the hospital from the community, as the infected staff and patient were in different areas of the hospital.
While he is concerned that the virus could spread, he said it was not unusual for strains of influenza to be found in the community around this time of year.
To restrict the chances of the virus spreading to other staff and patients protocols have been put in place at the hospital.
The virus is highly infectious and spreads through the air, multiplying in the cells lining a person's airways, causing respiratory infections, which are sometimes life-threatening.
Staff members with influenza symptoms have been asked to see their GP and ask to be tested for influenza - particularly if they were immunised this year.
The hospital is also reinforcing respiratory precautions for staff and is asking all people that enter the hospital to regularly and thoroughly wash their hands.
Patients with flu-like symptoms will be treated in single rooms or isolated with others with similar symptoms in four-bed wards.
The two infected staff members have been asked not to return to work until their symptoms have settled.
"Our normal precautions would be that we would treat people as infectious before we've even got the (laboratory) results back, so we hope that that has contained any kind of spread within the hospital," Dr Ayre said.
He said immunisation rates among staff were high, but it did not completely protect them from catching the virus.
Influenza symptoms include a sudden onset of fever, headache, muscle and joint pain, fatigue, sore throat, cough and a runny or stuffy nose.
Symptoms usually appear within one to three days of infection and a person is considered contagious for another three to four days after symptoms disappear.
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IMHO this is significant because Tasmania is moving out of their flu season and they are close to Indonesia. Influenza A virus is essentially an avian virus that has "recently" crossed into mammals. This may be nothing or something, as usual with this "event".
By RAELENE MOREY , Wednesday, 6 September 2006
PROTOCOLS: Stephen Ayre
http://www.examiner.com.au/story.asp?id=359962
E-mail the Editor
editor@examiner.com.au
Two staff members and a patient at Launceston General Hospital have contracted the highly contagious influenza A virus.
The virus was confirmed at the hospital yesterday after swabs taken 10 days ago from the infected staff and patient were identified as influenza A.
Hospital chief executive Dr Stephen Ayre said his main concern was that the virus could spread among staff.
"If it spreads among our staff, we can't continue our services. If we have a lot of our staff off sick, then, for example, we have to close beds or decrease our elective surgery," Dr Ayre said.
"We have had a number of staff off this week but we're managing to scrape by."
Dr Ayre suspected the virus entered the hospital from the community, as the infected staff and patient were in different areas of the hospital.
While he is concerned that the virus could spread, he said it was not unusual for strains of influenza to be found in the community around this time of year.
To restrict the chances of the virus spreading to other staff and patients protocols have been put in place at the hospital.
The virus is highly infectious and spreads through the air, multiplying in the cells lining a person's airways, causing respiratory infections, which are sometimes life-threatening.
Staff members with influenza symptoms have been asked to see their GP and ask to be tested for influenza - particularly if they were immunised this year.
The hospital is also reinforcing respiratory precautions for staff and is asking all people that enter the hospital to regularly and thoroughly wash their hands.
Patients with flu-like symptoms will be treated in single rooms or isolated with others with similar symptoms in four-bed wards.
The two infected staff members have been asked not to return to work until their symptoms have settled.
"Our normal precautions would be that we would treat people as infectious before we've even got the (laboratory) results back, so we hope that that has contained any kind of spread within the hospital," Dr Ayre said.
He said immunisation rates among staff were high, but it did not completely protect them from catching the virus.
Influenza symptoms include a sudden onset of fever, headache, muscle and joint pain, fatigue, sore throat, cough and a runny or stuffy nose.
Symptoms usually appear within one to three days of infection and a person is considered contagious for another three to four days after symptoms disappear.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
IMHO this is significant because Tasmania is moving out of their flu season and they are close to Indonesia. Influenza A virus is essentially an avian virus that has "recently" crossed into mammals. This may be nothing or something, as usual with this "event".
