Respiratory infections circulate the Darling Downs in winter

Doctors warn multiple respiratory infections are circulating across the Darling Downs this winter as clinics see spike in patients.

Multiple respiratory illness are circulating with the winter season coming towards us.

As the winter chill sets in and emergency departments in hospitals fill up, GP clinics across the region are in for a busy season as a cocktail of respiratory illnesses spread through the community.

Whooping cough (pertussis), RSV, mycoplasma, Covid and Influenza has been rampant within the community this year, with whooping cough and RSV being severe in young children and potentially fatal in newborns.

“We have been a bit busier after the cold has set in, seeing a bit more of mycoplasma and whooping cough cases, and we’ve seen some influenza A going around and quite a number of cases of Covid,” Dr Daniel Joubert said.

Toowoomba Medical Centre GP Dr Daniel Joubert

A General Practitioner at the Toowoomba Medical Centre, Dr Joubert advised people to stay warm during the winter, wash their hands, keep social distancing if possible, stay at home if sick and keep up with their immunisations and boosters.

World-wide medicine shortages for whooping cough, or pertussis, has already hit Australia as cases spike and hit a decade high with RSV, mycoplasma, influenza, and Covid still continuing in circulation.

As the winter sets, multiple respiratory infections are in the area, with particularly young and old at risk of hospitalisation and death.

It comes as stocks for the liquid form of azithromycin, medicine to treat whooping cough are in short supply as infections increase from America, to Europe and Asia, the highest seen since 2012.

Australia-wide there has been more than 10,000 cases of whooping cough, with over 4000 in Queensland, and 408 within the Darling Downs - numbers not seen for more than a decade, with only three recorded cases at this time last year.

Managing pharmacist and owner of Southtown Pharmacy Richard Spencer said while stocks of azithromycin were in short supply they had plenty of the tablet-form and clarithromycin, which was dispensable in water.

Southtown Pharmacy owner and pharmacist Richard Spencer

The worst case scenarios was needing to get the scripts changed by doctors, he said.

“Toowoomba-based pharmacists have a fantastic network with a whatsapp group which fires off dozens of times a day,” he said.

While one pharmacist might not have on type of medication in stock, another might have just received a back order for it, he said.

The ad hoc messaging group started during Covid and has since been an invaluable tool within the region, he said.

He advised anyone searching for medication to press their pharmacist to ask in the chat for places that might have it in stock.

Whooping cough vaccinations are available free for school children through and throughout school program, adults who are not eligible for the free vaccine are able to request one through their GP, and the vaccine costs around $44.

Another infection which has seen a spike in the last year is RSV (respiratory syncytial virus), with Queensland having 53 per cent more cases this year in comparison to last.

As the winter sets, multiple respiratory infections are in the area, with particularly young and old at risk.

RSV hospitalises the most children in Australia, particularly those under two years.

Almost one-third of all RSV cases this year have occurred in this age group, resulting in 1366 hospitalisations, a press statement from the Qld Minister of Health said on Thursday.

Originally published as Respiratory infections circulate the Darling Downs in winter