‘No biggie’: 11 gastro cases at Australian aged care home

Posted on January 17, 2020 by Douglas Powell

An aged care home criticised for its handling of an influenza outbreak which killed 10 people has suffered a gastro outbreak.

A staff member, who asked to remain anonymous, raised concerns about the way the situation had been handled.

A Department of Health and Human Services spokesman said the first case was identified last Thursday with eight residents and three staff affected, with the department notified on Tuesday (that in early Dec.).

Respect Aged Care chief operating officer Brett Menzie said it wasn’t a major outbreak.

The dates and number of infected people differed to those provided to DHHS, with Mr Menzie stating five residents and three staff members were infected.

Mr McKenzie said a resident first showed signs of gastro on Sunday, with an outbreak – which occurs when three people show symptoms – declared on Monday.

He said the Health Department had been notified and infection control procedures enacted.

“St John’s Retirement Village Nursing Home did not implement a coordinated and timely infection control program that was effective in identifying and containing infection during the influenza and respiratory outbreak of August and September 2017,” a report found.

38 sick: It was the relish at Melbourne Cricket Ground luncheon on Anzac Day

Posted on August 17, 2019 by Douglas Powell

Health Times reports Australian investigators spent months trying to recreate dodgy relish that gave nearly 40 people gastro at an exclusive Melbourne Cricket Ground luncheon on Anzac Day.

Thirty-seven patrons and a staff member were left distressed and light-headed, with some fainting and going to hospital, after eating the quince and fig jam relish with barberries at the Essendon Football Club’s president lunch on April 25.

“It was a pretty dramatic foodborne outbreak,’ Victoria’s chief health officer, Brett Sutton, told reporters on Tuesday after a three-month investigation into the incident.

Rabbit, chicken and pork terrine served with the relish was initially suspected to be the culprit

But after 109 interviews trawling through everything guests and staff members ate that day, the investigation found the relish was almost certainly to blame.
“In the fashion of a true foodborne mystery, it was the relish in the (MCG’s) Olympic Room at high noon on Anzac Day,” Dr Sutton said.

The investigation took three months in part because investigators were trying to recreate the relish under various conditions, but they were unsuccessful.

“Dehydrated barberries, barberries with boiling water, the relish refrigerated for three days, the relish left out, none of it allowed sufficient growth of bacteria that would have caused that illness,’ Dr Sutton said.

“I suspect that something in that relish, barberries or the fig jam, carried a toxin at the time and the boiling water that was used in the processing wasn’t sufficient to kill it.”

Seven people were taking to hospital after being struck down by the gastro but none required admission.

‘Hellish’ gastro outbreak sends more than 1,000 people to emergency in Australia

Posted on June 8, 2018 by Douglas Powell

The Sunshine Coast is an idyllic spot on the Pacific Ocean, about an hour north of Brisbane.

But according to Shri Rajen of the Daily Mail a huge, and unidentified gastro outbreak has left more than 1,000 people in hospital.

Emergency departments in the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, were flooded with 1142 patients with gastroenteritis.

Around 600 cases were treated at the Sunshine Coast University Hospital.

Gastroenteritis can be either infectious or non-infectious, public health physician said, Dr Andrew Langley, reported The Sunshine Coast Daily.

He said, usually bacteria, parasites and viruses are the cause of infectious cases.

‘Noroviruses are a very common cases of viral gastroenteritis. Causes of norovirus are not routinely reported to Queensland Health,’ Dr Langley said.

‘If you have gastroenteritis, you should not return to work until diarrhoea has ceased. Children should not return to childcare or school until diarrhoea has ceased for 24 hours,’ said Dr Langley.

Last month, a gastro outbreak has forced Mt Maria College in Brisbane to close after 20 students and two teachers were sent to hospital with vomiting and diarrhoea.

Last year nearly 2000 people admitted themselves to hospitals across Sydney.

Gastroenteritis can be easily passed from person to person due to its highly infectious nature.

‘Is it hygiene or something going wrong’ One dead after suspected gastro outbreak on Pacific Jewel cruise ship

Posted on September 12, 2016 by Douglas Powell

Georgina Mitchell of The Sydney Morning Herald reports one woman has died and several people are believed to be unwell after a suspected outbreak of gastroenteritis on a cruise ship off the coast of Queensland.

The P&O Pacific Jewel cruise ship left from Sydney on September 6 for a 10-night “Barrier Reef Discovery” cruise.

Margaret Carlson boarded with her daughter and teenage grandson. It was the 79-year-old’s seventh cruise in 10 years after her husband passed away, and she was looking forward to the journey after being upgraded to a luxury cabin.

She soon began showing signs of gastro and was told by medical staff that she had probably brought the bug onto the ship with her, her family says. Her daughter and grandson also fell ill after boarding the ship. P&O denied there had been a gastro outbreak on the ship.

On Saturday afternoon, when the ship was docked at Yorkeys Knob in Cairns, Mrs Carlson’s family discovered she had died in her room.

Police were called to inspect the scene and determined she had died of natural causes several hours earlier. An autopsy will be performed.

Mrs Carlson’s daughter Vanessa D’Souza, 41, said her mother’s death was sudden and extremely upsetting.

“My first priority was to let people know, because I thought you would not want to send your mother or grandmother on that [ship].”

Ms D’Souza has been in contact with her sister, who said large numbers of cruise passengers were locked out of their rooms on Monday morning and not told why. The family believes dozens of rooms on two decks of the ship were being cleaned and disinfected.

A P&O spokesperson acknowledged the death but denied there was a gastro outbreak.

Gastroenteritis is not a “notifiable” condition, meaning there is no obligation to report such an outbreak.

One passenger was medically evacuated from the ship by helicopter on Monday for reasons which could not be divulged.

Ms D’Souza said most of the passengers on board “can’t wait to get off”.

“We’d like some answers,” she said. “Is there really some issue with hygiene, or is there something going wrong?”

Gastro outbreak strikes Australia’s Fraser Coast

Posted on August 24, 2016 by Douglas Powell

Australia’s Fraser Coast, including the town of Hervey Bay, is billed as Australia’s whale watching capital and the scallops are like no other, especially those apparently hepatitis A infected frozen scallops from the Philippines which has sickened 208 Hawaiians.

Eliza Wheeler of the Fraser Coast Chronicle reports an outbreak of gastroenteritis has stricken dozens of people over the past week, inundating home doctors, and putting a strain on the region’s hospitals.

House Call Doctor’s Assistant Clinical Director Dr Ryan Harvey said this particularly aggressive bug had been making people sick across the state.

He said it appeared to be a far more virulent strain than in previous years.

“It is worse than what we have seen and causing worse illness. A lot of people who might otherwise have had an upset stomach are experiencing severe gastro,” Dr Harvey said.

He said there had been reports of a 15% increase in the number of people with gastroenteritis being admitted to hospitals.

Bug forces Australian women’s water polo team into quarantine on eve of Games

Posted on August 1, 2016 by Douglas Powell

Amy and I are terrible swimmers.

Being good Aussies, Sorenne is developing into an excellent swimmer.

But she’s getting bored of doing laps for an hour.

We suggested water polo – they have a team at the local pool – and she was, Meh.

Now, perhaps our worlds have collided (or provided another reason to talk about microorganisms, as we did on our way home from school yesterday).

Four members of the Australian women’s water polo team have been segregated from their teammates after being floored by a virus.

In a disruptive setback to the Aussie Stingers medal hopes just four days out from the games, team management ushered the four players into building BV1 — which normally houses AOC and team officials — immediately after arriving in Rio on Monday afternoon.

The four picked up a bug while training in Rome in the lead-up to this week’s games.

Australian chef de mission Kitty Chiller said the four team members would not have any contact with their teammates until cleared by the team doctor.

Australia: Almost 200 children home sick from Adelaide school

Posted on June 26, 2016 by Douglas Powell

Some classes at Modbury West Primary School, which has 420 enrolments, had less than 10 students in attendance Friday.

Principal Deb Hancock told Advertiser.com.au the school sent a text message to parents on Thursday informing them many children had been unwell.

The text message also asked parents to keep children at home if they felt sick.

Ms Hancock said a dozen students were sent home on Thursday on the same day there were 80 children absent from class, after they showed gastro symptoms.

Stomach bug outbreak at Fort McMurray wildfire evacuation centres declared over

Posted on June 8, 2016 by Douglas Powell

After 307 cases of gastro-intestinal illnesses were reported at evacuation centres between May 6 and June 1, health officials declared the outbreak over Monday.

Alberta Health Services said it was no longer seeing a spike in stomach illness connected to any evacuation or reception area related to the Fort McMurray wildfire.

678 sick with gastro linked to bottled water in Spain

Posted on April 19, 2016 by Douglas Powell

The health authority of the northeastern Spanish region of Catalonia says more than 670 people have been affected by an outbreak of gastroenteritis linked to bottled water.

The authority said on its official Twitter account that, as of Saturday, 678 people had been treated for symptoms including nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea and high fever.

Catalonia’s regional health agency said in a statement that bottles of water have been withdrawn from retail outlets and scientific samples are being taken from bottling plants and distributors to determine the source of the outbreak. It did not name the company.

The bottled water company Grupo Eden Springs, however, said in a statement it had withdrawn pallets of bottled water that came from its source in Font d’Arinsal, near Barcelona.

‘Something on the bus’ Gastro outbreak at Australian school camp

Posted on April 1, 2016 by Douglas Powell

Whyalla Town Primary School students have been affected by a gastro outbreak while at an Adelaide Hills School Camp yesterday evening.

Between 15-20 students were affected, with two girls and one boy taken to the Women’s and Children’s hospital by emergency services.

Close to 60 Year 6 and 7 students from Whyalla Town Primary were attending the four-day camp.

Albury Park principal David Doherty said two of the children were hospitalised because they were not able to keep down anti-vomiting medication and needed fluids, while the other was an asthmatic.

“I would have to praise the work done by the teachers, under pressure they did a tremendous job at managing the incident,” Mr Doherty said.

Mr Doherty said a bus driver on the camp had also become ill, which could be linked to a possible cause.

“I would be hesistant to say, but it’s possible there was something on that bus which could have contributed,” he said.

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