Swine flu 'threatens mums, Aborigines'

Health authorities have renewed warnings about the risk swine flu poses in pregnancy
and among indigenous people, following the death of a Queensland woman's unborn
baby.

The death came as hospital officials in NSW expressed concern over the stress the
outbreak was putting the system under and specialist emergency teams have been
organised to visit homes of people affected by the virus.
The national swine flu toll stood at 37 at noon (AEST) on Tuesday, with a total of
14,037 cases recorded across Australia.
On a state-by-state basis the death toll, according to the federal health
department, is: Victoria 15, NSW 14, Northern Territory 3, South Australia 2,
Queensland 1, Tasmania 1 and Western Australia 1.
There were 231 people in hospital including 96 in intensive care.
In Queensland, a 19-year-old woman, who was 36 weeks into her pregnancy and was
taken from Palm Island to Townsville Hospital with swine flu complications, lost her
baby at the weekend.
The woman on Tuesday remained in intensive care at the hospital in north Queensland.
Palm Island mayor Alf Lacey said there were many others on the island with swine flu
and feared there could be more deaths.
He said he was greatly concerned for small remote Aboriginal communities.
"I am calling on the Queensland and federal health ministers to employ a different
strategy for our community because of the conditions we live in," Mr Lacey told AAP.
"This (swine flu) could have devastating effects on us."
Queensland's chief health officer Jeannette Young declined to comment on the case,
citing patient privacy, but warned indigenous people and pregnant women needed to
take extra precautions.
"Anyone who falls into the vulnerable groups should avoid any mass gatherings," Dr
Young said.
"So I think pregnant women who are uncertain as to what to do should talk to their
obstetrician."
Dr Young said indigenous communities such as Palm Island were vulnerable.
"We will work with every single community as it needs the assistance," she said.
NSW health authorities on Tuesday warned swine flu cases would peak next month as
children return to school and stressed hospitals brace for more cases.
Acknowledging the health system is under pressure, the NSW government announced
specialist mobile emergency teams equipped with breathing apparatus would be sent by
ambulance to the homes of critically ill swine flu patients.
NSW Australian Medical Association (AMA) president Brian Morton says medical
authorities are bracing for an increase in intensive care cases and deaths in
August.
"The evidence that everyone's working on is that the peak of seasonal flu will
usually occur late July/August so we would expect that with H1N1 swine flu," Dr
Morton told ABC Radio on Tuesday.
Roger Pye, staff specialist at St Vincent's intensive care unit in Sydney, said
absenteeism among health staff due to swine flu was becoming a problem.
"The system is stressed," Dr Pye told reporters.
"The medical, nursing and allied health communities are all being affected by the
flu ... and we're finding it hard to get staff to fill each shift," he said.
NSW swine flu victim Brooke Ecclestone gave media a firsthand account of the
disease's effects.
The 21-year-old, from Bowral in the Southern Highlands, has just recovered in
hospital from a severe bout of the virus, seven years after a double lung
transplant.
"I woke up with cold shivers and fevers, all I wanted to do was die because I had
never felt so sick," she said.
Meanwhile, Tasmania's director of public health Chrissie Pickin said on Tuesday that
"1,000 additional hospital admissions could be expected over the next eight weeks
across the state and unfortunately at least 20 deaths may occur".
She said 43 per cent of all testing for influenza-like illness in Tasmania had
returned positive results for influenza A, while 60 per cent of that number were
positive for H1N1.
"At the peak of the H1N1 influenza outbreak we could see more than 26,000 Tasmanians
ill with the virus," Dr Pickin said in a statement.