Antibiotic Awareness Week, 17-23 November 2014 Monday marked the beginning of Antibiotic Awareness Week 2014, a global campaign to raise awareness of antibiotic resistance and promote the responsible use of antibiotics. This year’s campaign for hospitals focuses on the theme Preserve the Miracle of Antibiotics: No action today, no cure tomorrow, and highlights seven actions you can take to improve antibiotic prescribing and use. Action 1: Obtain cultures before starting therapy Action 2: Use Therapeutic Guidelines: Antibiotic* Action 3: Document indication […]

Professor Lyn Gilbert has recently been appointed chair of an Expert Advisory Panel to provide the best available infection prevention and control expertise and advice to the Communicable Disease Network Australia (CDNA – State and Territory health department communicable disease branch reps) and the Australian Health Protection Primary Committee (AHPPC = chief health officers, chaired by Commonwealth Chief Medical Officer, Professor Chris Baggoley). Membership of the panel includes four Infection Control Professionals, four Infectious Diseases Physicians, an Epidemiologist/Public Health Physician and a […]

Virus WAtch Week Ending 26 October 2014 Influenza and Influenza-like Illnesses (ILI) Summary: Influenza and non-influenza virus activity continue to decline. ILI presentations to sentinel GPs and emergency departments (EDs), and detections of influenza virus, decreased this week. Hospitalisations for influenza decreased and are below baseline level. Detections of non-influenza respiratory viruses decreased. Gastroenteritis Gastroenteritis presentations to sentinel GPs increased, while presentations to EDs decreased to below baseline level. Norovirus detections decreased this week, while rotavirus detections increased. Varicella and […]

The revised national Public Health Unit Guidelines for EVD from CDNA and the AHPPC are available at http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/ohp-ebola.htm/$File/EVD-SoNG.pdf  

Virus WAtch Week Ending 19 October 2014 Influenza and Influenza-like Illnesses (ILI) Summary: Influenza and non-influenza virus activity continue to decline. ILI presentations to sentinel emergency departments (EDs) and detections of influenza virus decreased this week. Hospitalisations in influenza cases declined and are below baseline level. Detections of non-influenza respiratory viruses decreased. Gastroenteritis Gastroenteritis presentations to sentinel EDs increased slightly this week, and have reached baseline level. Norovirus and rotavirus detections decreased slightly this week. Varicella and Viral Rashes Chickenpox […]

Yesterday the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated their PPE Guidance for Ebola cases – now includes total body protection + site manager + buddy. http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/hcp/procedures-for-ppe.html Other Ebola resources can be found at: Australian Department of Health Updates http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/ohp-ebola.htm The World Health Organisation Updates http://www.who.int/csr/disease/ebola/en/ Infection Control Today News Updates http://www.infectioncontroltoday.com/news.aspx

Virus WAtch Week Ending 12 October 2014 Influenza and Influenza-like Illnesses (ILI) Summary: Influenza activity continues to decline. Presentations of influenza-like illness to sentinel general practitioners (GPs) and sentinel emergency departments (EDs) decreased this week. Detections of influenza virus continue to decrease. Detections of non-influenza respiratory viruses decreased, with the exception of human metapneumovirus and adenovirus. Gastroenteritis Gastroenteritis presentations to sentinel GPs increased slightly this week, but presentations to sentinel EDs remains stable and below average levels. Norovirus and rotavirus […]

Virus WAtch Week Ending 28 September 2014 Virus WAtch Week Ending 5 October 2014 Influenza and Influenza-like Illnesses (ILI) Summary: Influenza activity continues to decline. Most indicators of influenza activity, including notifications, detections of influenza virus, proportion of positive laboratory tests for influenza, and influenza-associated hospitalisations decreased this week, with the exception of emergency department ILI presentations which increased. Influenza A/H1N1, A/H3N2 and B viruses continue to co-circulate. Detections of all non-influenza respiratory viruses decreased. Gastroenteritis Gastroenteritis presentations to sentinel […]

Virus WAtch Week Ending 28 September 2014 Influenza and Influenza-like Illnesses (ILI) Summary: Influenza activity continues to decline. Most indicators of influenza activity, including notifications, detections of influenza virus, proportion of positive laboratory tests for influenza, and influenza-associated hospitalisations decreased this week. Presentations to sentinel general practitioners (GPs) were unchanged. Influenza A/H1N1, A/H3N2 and B viruses continue to co-circulate. Overall detections of non-influenza respiratory viruses increased, primarily due to an increase in human metapneumovirus. Gastroenteritis Gastroenteritis presentations to sentinel GPs […]

Virus WAtch Week Ending 21 September 2014 Influenza and Influenza-like Illnesses (ILI) Summary: Influenza and non-influenza respiratory virus activity continues to decline. Most indicators of influenza activity, including notifications, detections of influenza virus, proportion of positive laboratory tests for influenza, and influenza-associated hospitalisations decreased this week. Influenza A/H1N1, influenza A/H3N2 and influenza B viruses continue to co-circulate. Detections of non-influenza respiratory viruses continued to decline this week. Gastroenteritis Gastroenteritis presentations to sentinel general practitioners (GPs) remain stable this week. Presentations […]