The Health News – 31 January 2017
Overview:
• Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital may have given ineffective Hepatitis B vaccines to babies and postnatal cough vaccine to three mothers over the past few months as a result of low temperature readings in their storage fridge. The hospital has begun contacting affected patients to alert them of the potential problem.
• Q fever cases in South Australia have increased, which prompted SA Health to encourage people to get vaccinated. 28 people were diagnosed with severe flu-like disease in 2016. This is more than double from twelve cases in 2015 and nine cases in 2014.
• Parents, teachers and students are urged to call out bullying and act on it when they see it. According to ReachOut, a mental health organization, 52% of bullying incidents occur in school, followed by 25% from online space and another 25% happens at work.
News on Health Professional Radio. Today is the 31st of January 2017. Read by Rebecca Foster. Health News
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-01-30/hospital-vaccine-mistake-could-affect-hundreds/8225022
Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital, in Sydney’s south-west, has said some babies on site over the past few months may have been given an ineffective Hepatitis B vaccine.
The hospital has begun contacting around 300 mothers who gave birth between November 29 last year and January 22 this year to alert them to the potential problem.
The hospital said a fridge that stored the routine vaccines was found to have low temperature readings.
Three women who received a postnatal dose of whooping cough vaccine this month have also been contacted and offered a replacement dose.
The hospital has been plagued by several issues in recent years.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-01-30/sa-health-reminder-to-get-q-fever-vaccination/8222714
An increase in cases of Q fever in South Australia has prompted a reminder from SA Health for people to get a vaccination.
The organisation is prompting people who work with livestock to get the vaccination, after 28 people were diagnosed with the severe flu-like disease in 2016.
This is more than double the year before when there were 12 cases, with nine in 2014.
The state’s chief medical officer Paddy Phillips said the infection could be caused by direct or indirect contact with an infected animal.
He said many people did not get vaccinated.
The disease can have long-term effects such as exhaustion, muscular and joint pain, and severe headaches.
As thousands of young people head back to school for 2017, parents, teachers and students are being urged to call out bullying and “act early” when they see it.
The message from mental health service ReachOut came after it released a survey of 14 to 25-year-olds showing one in four had been a victim of bullying in the past 12 months.
It also found the highest incidence of bullying occurred at school — 52 per cent — followed by the online space with 25 per cent, and the workplace at 25 per cent.
ReachOut chief executive Jono Nicholas said more needed to be done to break down the stigma of being a bullying victim, given the survey found only half of those affected spoke out and sought help.
Mr Nicholas said the best way to deal with bullying was to tackle it quickly and head-on.
He acknowledged it was usually difficult for victims to overcome their fears and take that first step, but urged them to do so anyway.
“Often people hope that it will go away, hope that if they’re quiet it will magically change,” he said.
“The most important thing to do is to act early.”
Mr Nicholas said people should first try to remove themselves from the situation, but if that did not work, then speak to somebody.