The Health News Australia October 7 2017

• A new study warning Australia’s major cities are likely to reach highs of 50C by 2040 – even if the world meets its target of limiting warming to 2C above pre-industrial levels – is yet more evidence that without immediate and urgent action we are facing a looming public health crisis during heatwaves and other extreme weather events.
• Doctors are warning Aussies to check their tatts in the wake of a disturbing case of a woman who turned up to a Sydney hospital with large lumps under her armpits — which they discovered filled with black ink from her tattoos.
• Picking up on deadly signs could save your child’s life from the flu epidemic sweeping across Australia. The potentially lifesaving advice comes after another young child has been put on life support after contracting the virus. At least 288 flu-related deaths have been reported this year, and the number is thought to be even higher.

News on Health Professional Radio. Today is the 7th of  October 2017. Read by Tabetha Moreto. Health News

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/oct/04/a-lack-of-action-on-climate-change-is-putting-peoples-lives-at-risk

A new study warning Australia’s major cities are likely to reach highs of fifty degrees celsius by two thousand forty – even if the world meets its target of limiting warming to two degrees celsius above pre-industrial levels – is yet more evidence that without immediate and urgent action we are facing a looming public health crisis during heatwaves and other extreme weather events. The study follows recent unseasonable heat across New South Wales, with Sydney experiencing its hottest ever September day, as well as the doubling of record-breaking summer temperatures in Australia in the past fifty years. This new normal has hospital health professionals particularly bracing for the coming summer.

Public Australian emergency departments are tough places to both work and be a patient. They are hectic, often overwhelmed, not infrequently threatening environments that are emotionally demanding for everyone. And, with ever increasing demand and an ageing population, along with a politically-sensitive health budget, the emergency department is increasingly the public face of a stressed health system.

With climate change causing a gradual increase in average temperatures, we know that heatwaves are more frequent and of increasing severity. What we also know from the heatwaves we have seen in Australia thus far is that we can expect a very significant impact on our public health system. Increases of up to twenty five percent for ambulance emergency call outs; up to sixty percent increase in emergency department resuscitation cases, often in the elderly and vulnerable members of our society; an overall increase in presentations to our already overstretched emergency departments; and an increase in overall deaths ranging from thirteen percent to  twenty four percent. In the two thousand fourteen Melbourne heatwave, that equated to one hundred sixty seven excess deaths.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/lifestyle/health/royal-prince-alfred-doctors-warning-on-tattoos-after-woman-found-with-lumps-caused-by-15yearold-ink/news-story/dc746aca1d7f2aaa0ddf85e889945cd0

Doctors are warning Aussies to check their tatts in the wake of a disturbing case of a woman who turned up to a Sydney hospital with large lumps under her armpits — which they discovered filled with black ink from her tattoos. The thirty-year-old woman was tested for cancer at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital at first, with doctors suspecting lymphoma, but after a biopsy found black pigment had collected in a cluster of cells.

Reporting the unusual case in a medical journal today, the doctors said they believed the lumps were an immune system reaction to the inks in her tattoos.

“A large black-ink tattoo that had been present for fifteen years covered her back,” the researchers stated. “We concluded that the diagnosis was granulomatous lymphadenitis, which was probably a hypersensitivity reaction to tattoo pigment,” the doctors stated.
The research team, including doctors from the Chris O’Brien Lifehouse research centre, pointed out since fifteen per cent of Australians between sixteen and sixty four have tattoos, people should be careful to check for any reactions and keep a record of their tattoo history.

http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/health-problems/flu-epidemic-continues-to-wreak-havoc-with-children-across-australia-being-hit-hard/news-story/6ca96480580fb6dd7ee15346cfc45640

Picking up on deadly signs could save your child’s life from the flu epidemic sweeping across Australia. The potentially lifesaving advice comes after another young child has been put on life support after contracting the virus. Queensland boy Jaymon Gaul, ten, was rushed to hospital on September twenty three after he was found by his mother in a non-responsive state.

Flu symptoms can hit children from nowhere, but there are often telltale hints that can let you know if it’s a common cold or worse, according to Australian Medical Association vice president, Doctor Tony Bartone. “The virus can progress quite quickly in people of all ages, usually within in a few hours or a day,” Doctor Bartone told news.com.au. He added: “It usually starts with feeling sniffily and there will be minor aches and pains — they are also the symptoms of a common cold, so it’s often hard to tell the difference at first.’’

At least two hundred eighty eight flu-related deaths have been reported this year, and the number is thought to be even higher. A record-breaking one hundred seventy two thousand two hundred forty seven cases have been confirmed by the Department of Health in two thousand seventeen: eighty thousand five hundred sixty seven in New South Wales; forty four thousand eight hundred sixty six in Queensland; seven thousand three hundred twenty six in South Australia; thirteen thousand six hundred fifty four in Victoria; three thousand six hundred fifty six in Western Australia; two thousand seven hundred seven in Tasmania; two thousand three fifty two in the Australian Capital Territory and one thousand one hundred nineteen in the Northern Territory. The rates of influenza are highest among people aged eighty five years or older, with a secondary peak for children aged five to nine as well as unusually high rates among under-fives.