Antimicrobial Stewardship Clinical Care Standard During November, the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (ACSQHC) launched the Antimicrobial Stewardship Clinical Care Standard – the first standard that applies to clinical practice to be launched in Australia. Australia has one of the highest rates of antibiotic use in the developed world. Although antimicrobial resistance is a natural feature of bacterial evolution, the inappropriate use of antibiotics has increased the development of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria in hospitals and healthcare facilities and […]

Virus WAtch Week Ending 30 November 2014 Influenza and Influenza-like Illnesses (ILI) Summary: Influenza activity is low and at inter-seasonal level. ILI presentations to sentinel general practitioners (GPs) and emergency departments (EDs) remain low. Routine and sentinel detections of influenza virus remain low. Influenza A/H3N2 and influenza B continue to co-circulate at low levels. Detections of non-influenza respiratory viruses decreased this week. Gastroenteritis Gastroenteritis presentations to sentinel GPs nearly doubled this week. Gastroenteritis presentations to sentinel EDs remain above baseline […]

Virus WAtch Week Ending 23 November 2014 Influenza and Influenza-like Illnesses (ILI) Summary: Influenza activity is low and at inter-seasonal level.  ILI presentations to sentinel general practitioners (GPs) emergency departments (EDs) remains low. Routine and sentinel detections of influenza virus decreased this week. Influenza A/H3N2 and influenza B continue to co-circulate at low levels. Detections of non-influenza respiratory viruses remain similar to the previous week. Gastroenteritis Gastroenteritis presentations to sentinel GPs and EDs increased this week and remain above baseline […]

Virus WAtch Week Ending 16 November 2014 Influenza and Influenza-like Illnesses (ILI) Summary: Influenza and non-influenza virus activity continue to decline and are at inter-seasonal levels.  Detections of influenza virus decreased this week. Hospitalisations for influenza and presentations to sentinel emergency departments (EDs) for ILI remained stable, and are at baseline level. Influenza A/H3N2 and influenza B continue to co-circulate at low levels. Detections of non-influenza respiratory viruses continue to decline. Gastroenteritis Gastroenteritis presentations to sentinel GPs and sentinel EDs […]

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