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The Australian Health Protection Committee (AHPC) and the Chief Medical Officer,
Professor Jim Bishop, have advised that it is appropriate to raise the pandemic
response to a modified SUSTAIN response for Victoria while keeping the national
level at CONTAIN for the other states and territories.
The measures to be put in place in Victoria as part of a modified SUSTAIN approach
will enable Victoria to more appropriately respond to the relatively higher
number of cases and the sustained community transmission of the infection in
Victoria. About three quarters of confirmed cases recorded so far have been
in Victoria.
Measures taken by governments have so far helped to delay and reduce the spread
of the virus H1N1 Influenza 09 (Human Swine Influenza). While Australia has
recently experienced an increase in cases as was always likely to be the case,
this has occurred up to a month later than in other countries such as the UK,
Canada and Japan. All delay and contain efforts have provided more time for
doctors and scientists to better understand the disease so that Australia can
better target its response.
Moving to Modified SUSTAIN will enable Victoria to:
* more intensively target those people who are at highest risk. For example,
undertake testing in high risk settings like aged care facilities, hospitals
and special schools to help identify cases;
* implement extensive contact tracing where there are people at risk of severe
complications, such as those in nursing homes and special schools;
* target antivirals to people exhibiting the clinical case definition of Human
Swine Flu, along with their immediate household contacts; and
* require people who are confirmed to have Human Swine Flu to isolate themselves
for three days following the commencement of antiviral treatment.
Given the high level of socialisation and contact in school settings, the AHPC
has agreed that health authorities throughout Australia should continue to focus
on actions in schools as they are a key vehicle for spread of the virus.
Health officials continue to request that any school aged children at potential
risk from Human Swine Influenza stay at home for seven days.
States and Territories will apply a policy of voluntary exclusion from school
for a period of seven days for all children returning from areas where there
is a high prevalence of the virus circulating in the community.
All States and Territories will be asked to undertake random sampling testing
(known as sentinel testing) of influenza-like illness and increased sampling
of cases to monitor the rate of increase of spread in the community and any
changes in the dominant circulating influenza strain.
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Any views expressed iin the article above are not necessarily those of IvyRose
Ltd.. Material in this news item was released by the Australian based source
listed below on 3 June 2009
and may have been edited (e.g. in style, length, and/or for ease of understanding
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