The Health News Australia September 29 2017

Overview

• Health authorities have issued an alert in Melbourne after discovering an adult with measles attended the MCG along with 95,000 other fans on Saturday. Two new cases of the highly infectious disease have been diagnosed.ss.
• Australia’s largest local health district is to use the e-observations platform from UK-based Patientrack to collect and analyse vital signs data.Hunter New England Health – which provides a range of public health services to the Hunter, New England and Lower Mid North Coast regions – will implement Patientrack in more than 43 sites in the district.
• The state record for the hottest day in September has been broken for the second time in a week in parts of western New South Wales. In the upper west, Delta has hit 41.3 degrees Celsius and in Bourke it reached 40.7C
  

News on Health Professional Radio. Today is the 29th of  September 2017. Read by Tabetha Moreto. Health News

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-27/measles-cases-have-authorities-worried-about-mcg-crowd/8993336

Health authorities have issued an alert in Melbourne after discovering an adult with measles attended the Melbourne Cricket Ground along with ninety five thousand other fans on Saturday. Two new cases of the highly infectious disease have been diagnosed. The Department of Health and Human Services says the pair — a man and a woman — visited several crowded locations while infectious between September twenty to September twenty three, before they were diagnosed. They used Metro trains and visited a pharmacy, a gym and a bar in Richmond, with one of them also visiting the MCG. Deputy Chief Health Officer Doctor Brett Sutton said measles could cause serious illness, particularly in very young children and adults. Doctor Sutton said: “Measles has an incubation period of up to eighteen days so those at risk of measles who visited these locations might show symptoms up until October thirteen.”

Measles is a highly infectious viral disease that can cause serious illness, particularly in very young children and adults. Doctor Sutton said people at risk of measles should be alert to the symptoms. He added that the illness usually begins with common cold symptoms such as runny nose, red eyes and a cough, followed by fever and rash.  The characteristic measles rash usually begins three to seven days after the first symptoms, generally starting on the face and then spreading to the rest of the body. He also said: “Anyone developing symptoms is advised to ring ahead to their GP or hospital first and tell them that they have fever and a rash.” Doctor Sutton said most cases of measles in Victoria were linked to international travel.

https://www.digitalhealth.net/2017/09/australias-largest-health-district-to-use-patientrack/

Australia’s largest local health district is to use the e-observations platform from UK-based Patientrack to collect and analyse vital signs data. Hunter New England Health – which provides a range of public health services to the Hunter, New England and Lower Mid North Coast regions – will implement Patientrack in more than forty three sites in the district.
Patientrack is an e-observations technology allowing clinicians to record vital signs on mobile devices rather than onto paper charts. The software automatically calculates a patient’s early warning score, and alerts relevant clinicians if there is cause for concern.

Digital Health News has previously reported on its application at a number of UK organisations, including Saint Helen’s and Knowsley, Western Sussex, and NHS Fife. Hunter New England Health is to initially implement Patientrack at Maitland Hospital over the next few months and will then progressively roll it out across the rest of the area.Patientrack is marketed and delivered in Australia and New Zealand through sole distributer MKM Health.
Kate Quirke, CEO of MKM Health, said Hunter New England Health’s adoption of the system demonstrated Australia’s interest in Patientrack’s ability to “improve patient outcomes whilst supporting the existing clinical workflows in place within the clinical setting”.
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An MKM Health spokesman said the new deal builds on previous success for Patientrack in the Australasia region, where in New Zealand this past May, Counties Manukau District Health Board became the fourth organisation to choose Patientrack technology in just over 12 months.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-27/record-september-temperatures-broken-again-in-west-nsw/8993450

The state record for the hottest day in September has been broken for the second time in a week in parts of western New South Wales. In the upper west, Delta has hit forty one point three degrees celsius and in Bourke it reached forty point seven celsius. The latest record was only just set on Saturday when the town of Wilcannia reached forty point five celsius during an unseasonal heatwave. Prior to that, the last record was set on September twenty eighth, two thousand four with the temperature hit thirty nine point six celsius at Wanaaring.Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Andrew Haigh said the new record was extraordinary for this time of year. He said: “It’s very unusual, evidenced by the fact that we are breaking all time September records in NSW in terms of highest temperatures, so in that sense very unusual.”

A total fire ban has been issued for the entire far west region of the state. Rural Fire Service  district manager from the far west, Vaughn Elsworth, said it was mainly the winds that made the hot temperatures concerning.
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“I guess one of the saving graces we do have, talking to some of the farmers, is the fuel load on the ground is not as severe and while we will get pockets of fire, we’re not going to potentially see large areas affected” Mister Elsworth said.

The small town of White Cliffs is experiencing seventy eight kilometre per hour winds.