These actions include:
Cover your cough or sneeze
Wash your hands thoroughly
Keep your distance – try to stay at least 1 metre away from someone identified
as sick.
Other practices to reduce the spread of infectious disease include the promotion
of hand hygiene. It’s important to remember poor hand hygiene can not only make
you ill, but can affect your family members too. Poor hand hygiene can lead to
transmission of food poisoning bacteria such as Salmonella affecting your family and
friends eating food you prepared.
That said; monitoring your family for health concerns is an important piece of
infection control practice too. Recognition of an infectious disease will reduce spread
and severity of the disease. If a family member begins unexplained vomiting or
diarrhoea (where suspected cause is an infectious or chemical agent) a doctor should
be consulted sooner rather than later. Food poisoning might be the cause and if no
other family member is unwell the symptoms could be the result of a contaminated
take away food source or similar.
In this event the Public Health authorities will need to be notified immediately
(something that will be done by a doctor or Emergency Department) so the spread of
the disease can be stopped.
International sporting events traditionally focus health surveillance on athletes, not
spectators. However, historically, spectator health issues identified have included
heat related exhaustion and dehydration. Both these things can cause serious
problems for people and recognising the signs and symptoms is a must. If you or a
friend notice you are not going to the toilet often enough, have dry skin, sunken eyes
and feeling dizzy, you could be experiencing onset of dehydration. Please consult a
medical centre and/or find a cool place to sit and drink water.
There can also be location specific diseases for health authorities to consider
during a mass-gathering such as the Commonwealth Games. An example of this is
the Australian Bat Lyssavirus. This virus can be transmitted from bats to humans
and has similar effects to those of the rabies virus. People should be discouraged
from handling any bat and should seek medical attention should they receive a
bite or scratch causing broken skin or mucus on the skin, or if there is any concern
of potential exposure. This kind of specific health concern can be difficult to
educate, so the general public often play an important role in educating visitors and
discouraging action that could lead to bat exposure.
How can local hospitals like Pindara Private Hospital contribute to infection
control during a mass-gathering event such as the Commonwealth Games?
Pindara Private Hospital provides enhanced surveillance of patients presenting at
the hospital through the Emergency Department in order to protect the health of
staff, visitors and of course patients. Infection Control departments have a range
of systems in place to monitor and respond to outbreaks or hazards. They will also
work closely with local Public Health Units, reporting any infections or suspicious
incidents including, but not limited to vomiting and/or diarrhoea. The Infection
Control departments of all hospitals will also be on the look out for presentations of
Pneumonia, Influenza, Pertussis and Meningitis. All hospitals report the illness to
the Public Health Department in ‘real-time’, that is – when the Hospital knows, then
immediately the public health authorities will be notified.
The legacy of mass-gathering events, especially those on the scale of the
Commonwealth Games should include things like infrastructure, not an influenza
pandemic.
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