Parklea Jail: Whooping cough outbreak result of ‘false positives’

The chaos at Parklea Jail which saw inmates isolated and health authorities scrambling to contain a whooping cough outbreak was the result of five false positives.

Five Parklea Jail prisoners whose medical results showed they had whooping cough have been confirmed as false positives.

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Prison authorities have revealed the whooping cough outbreak at a notorious jail which sent inmates into isolation was a false alarm.

On Tuesday MTC Broadspectrum, the private company who operates Parklea Correctional Centre, confirmed five prisoners had tested positive for whooping cough.

However, it has now been revealed the tests were in fact false positives.

The results had sent chaos through the legal system as inmates at the jail scheduled to appear via video-link in court were hurried back to their cells and excused of their obligations.

Prison officials and health authorities had scrambled to trace the source of the highly contagious infection, believing they had an outbreak on their hands.

The inmates in question were sent into isolation after returning positive tests.

At the time, MTC Broadspectrum said while the infected prisoners were in a stable condition they were also showing no signs of symptoms.

Those tests have now been revealed to be false positives.

“MTC-Broadspectrum has been informed by St Vincent’s Health that the previously reported positive tests for whooping cough among inmates at Parklea Correctional Centre were false positives,” a spokesman said.

“There are no cases of whooping cough at Parklea Correctional Centre at this time.”

Parklea staff had scrambled to contain any potential spread of the highly contagious infection.

Prison officials had already been on high alert since February over fears the coronavirus pandemic could rapidly spread in the state’s correctional centres.

Scuffles and stand-offs between staff and inmates had been frequent in that time after visitors were banned, effectively cutting off the drug supply from the outside.

Whooping cough itself is only considered to be potentially deadly in infants if they have not been vaccinated.

Adults who test positive are generally treated with antibiotics but can show symptoms for a period of up to three weeks after infection.

To date no prisoner or corrections staff member has tested positive to coronavirus.

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