Tag Archives: *New Zealand

New Zealand: Cryptosporidiosis continues to rise in Hawke’s Bay

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Cryp­tosporidio­sis infec­tion cases con­tinue to increase in Hawke’s Bay with num­bers now reach­ing nearly 90 in 2013. Med­ical offi­cer of health Nicholas Jones said ongo­ing inves­ti­ga­tions con­tin­ued to indi­cate there were mul­ti­ple sources of infec­tion includ­ing swim­ming pools, person-to-person spread within house­holds and day care cen­ters, and water con­sump­tion from untreated water supplies.

The infec­tion is caused by a par­a­site found in the gut of cat­tle and other ani­mals. The par­a­site cyst is passed on to humans through con­tact with ani­mals, con­t­a­m­i­nated water or food, or through direct con­tact with human waste such as when chang­ing nap­pies. The dis­ease usu­ally causes diar­rhea, but chil­dren may go off their food and vomit before the diar­rhea starts. Diar­rhea is often watery and tends to be accom­pa­nied by stom­ach cramps. Symp­toms can come and go but have usu­ally stopped within 4 weeks. In rare cases when a person’s immune sys­tem is very weak the dis­ease can go on longer and cause complications.

Hand hygiene is the key to pre­vent­ing spread in house­holds and is par­tic­u­larly impor­tant for par­ents with sick chil­dren in nap­pies. Par­ents should keep young chil­dren away from day care for at least 48 hours after symp­toms clear. Any­one who has symp­toms and han­dles food at work should also stay off work for 48 hours after symp­toms clear. Any­one with symp­toms should stay out of swim­ming pools for at least two weeks after symp­toms dis­ap­pear. This is because peo­ple who have had the ill­ness can con­tinue to excrete cysts that are resis­tant to chlo­rine. Larger pub­lic pools gen­er­ally have sys­tems for fil­ter­ing out crypto cysts, but in pools with­out micro­fil­tra­tion crypto may sur­vive for weeks.

[ProMED note: Cryp­tosporidio­sis is well known in many parts of the world. It can be trans­mit­ted by con­t­a­m­i­nated drink­ing water, which seems to be the case here, with out­breaks in mul­ti­ple loca­tions not all related to swim­ming pools.]

(ProMED 3/17/2013)

New Zealand: Pregnant women urged to get whooping cough vaccination

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Preg­nant women are being urged to get vac­ci­nated against whoop­ing cough in a bid to pro­tect their unborn chil­dren against the poten­tially fatal dis­ease. New Zealand is in the grip of a whoop­ing cough epi­demic, with more than 5000 cases reported in 2012 alone, includ­ing two babies who have died.

Whoop­ing cough, also known as per­tus­sis, can lead to blind­ness, brain dam­age, and in severe cases, death. On 1 Decem­ber 2012, med­ical experts said preg­nant women can play a role in pro­tect­ing their chil­dren by tak­ing up offers of vac­ci­na­tions.  By vac­ci­nat­ing the mums of unborn babies, we’ve given the mum the oppor­tu­nity to build some anti­bod­ies and to pass these onto her unborn child, said Dan­nemora Med­ical Cen­tre head nurse, Gillian Davies.

Fig­ures show that 70% of babies who con­tract whoop­ing cough in the first few weeks of life, catch it from their par­ents or other close fam­ily mem­bers.  To com­bat this sta­tis­tic four of New Zealand’s Dis­trict Health Boards -  Coun­ties Manukau, Cap­i­tal and Coast, Can­ter­bury, and Waikato — have begun to admin­is­ter the vac­cine to preg­nant women for free. Waikato has been one of the regions worst hit by the whoop­ing cough epidemic.

The full arti­cle may be accessed at http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/pregnant-women-urged-get-whooping-cough-vaccination-5252827
(TVNZ 12/1/2012)

New Zealand (Auckland): Whooping cough outbreak spreads

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The num­ber of Auck­lan­ders sus­pected of con­tract­ing whoop­ing cough con­tin­ues to rise with 27 new cases reported dur­ing the week 21 May 2012. As of 25 May 2012, there were 274 con­firmed or prob­a­ble cases of the infec­tion, accord­ing to Auck­land Regional Pub­lic Health Ser­vice (ARPHS), up from 247 on 16 May 2012.

“The out­break is con­tin­u­ing. It’s been with us since the begin­ning of 2012 and the num­ber of cases is increas­ing every day,” said Dr. William Rainger, med­ical offi­cer of health at the ARPHS. “Our response has been to actively fol­low up on cases to pre­vent the spread and to pro­tect those most vulnerable.”

Rainger con­firmed the newly noti­fied cases are not linked to a Mid­dle­more Hos­pi­tal mid­wife who may have exposed up to 170 peo­ple. The mid­wife who con­tracted the dis­ease was imme­di­ately sent home to recover and may have been vac­ci­nated. “It is a spo­radic out­break, which means that it is being spread through the com­mu­nity,” he said.

Rainger said the ARPHS was gath­er­ing infor­ma­tion on the areas in Auck­land where the out­break was con­tin­u­ing. “Our response has been to actively fol­low up on cases to pre­vent the spread and to pro­tect those vulnerable.”

[ProMED note: The diag­no­sis of per­tus­sis in a mid­wife could be a major issue since the neonates that the health care deliv­erer exposed are the exact group with the high­est risk of mor­bid­ity and mor­tal­ity from human infec­tion with Bor­de­tella per­tus­sis. Ide­ally, the neonates should be immune since women in the sec­ond or third trimester of preg­nancy can be safely vac­ci­nated with the vac­cine, giv­ing birth to babies who are pro­tected by transpla­cen­tally acquired anti­body. Cer­tainly all health­care work­ers, espe­cially those with con­tact with infants less than a year of age, should receive a per­tus­sis vac­cine in the form of dTap to fur­ther “cocoon” the sus­cep­ti­ble infants.]
(ProMED 6/5/2012)