Influenza and Covid fears as Mackay, Central Qld virus figures spike across regions
Health experts are warning Queenslanders to prepare for a virus outbreak as flu and other ailments surge across Mackay and Central Queensland.
Mackay
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You might want to re-familiarise yourself with portable sanitiser gels, sprays, and creams, as the numbers of flu cases surge across the Mackay and Central Queensland region.
Recording just two cases of lab-confirmed Influenza in the first three months of 2022, the Central Queensland Hospital and Health Service has for the same period this year noted 103 cases.
Mackay Hospital and Health Service similarly jumped from zero cases from January to March 19, 2022, to 73 over the same period this year.
The explosion in influenza cases has triggered experts to warn we are now in a race against time to get vaccinated as a horror ‘flurona’ season looms.
Also of concern was the sharp rise in RSV or Respiratory syncytial virus in the CQHHS district, with 76 reported cases over the past three months, compared to just three during the same time frame last year.
RSV can attack both children and adults and cause runny noses, sneezing, sore throats, fevers, headaches, wheezing and breathing difficulties, and is a common cause of bronchiolitis and pneumonia in infants and the elderly.
Notifiable Diseases for Mackay Hospital and Health Service
Notifiable Diseases for Central Queensland Hospital and Health Service
Then across both hospital and health services, there were marked increases in gastrointestinal and sexually transmitted diseases.
Salmonella and chlamydia were up 25 per cent in Mackay on last year’s figures, and gonorrhoea has more than doubled.
While in Central Queensland, salmonella was up 25 per cent with chlamydia up almost 10 per cent; meanwhile, hepatitis C is up 45 per cent.
Finally, there has been 11 reported cases of Q fever in Mackay so far this year, compared to just two this time last year.
Q fever, caused by the Coxiella burnetii bacteria, typically spreads from animals to humans, and can lead to pneumonia and hepatitis.
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