Australia: Swine flu on cruise ship Pacific Dawn

[Tonka]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090527/wl_asia_afp/healthfluaustralia_20090527040619

Wed May 27, 12:05 am ET
SYDNEY (AFP) ? Australian authorities defended a decision to let 2,000 passengers off a cruise ship where there was a suspected swine flu outbreak, as the confirmed cases here more than doubled in 24 hours.

Despite suspicions a number of people on board the Pacific Dawn liner were suffering swine flu more than 2,000 passengers were allowed to return to the community Monday and told to self-quarantine for seven days.

A total of 14 passengers have since been diagnosed with the deadly virus, with 172 people on board showing flu-like symptoms or reporting contact with someone who did.

Health Minister Nicola Roxon said border controls would be tightened at Australia's ports but defended the release of Pacific Dawn passengers, as the number of confirmed cases nation-wide hit 59.

"I understand that there are some questions being asked and some level of frustration that perhaps people should have been held while more tests were being done," Roxon said.

"We have to try and have a proportionate response, and holding 2,000 people or trying to put them in some sort of isolated circumstances would have its own difficulties."

"The advice that we have so far is for us not to restrict internal travel in any way."

New South Wales state Health Minister John Della Bosca said quarantine officials did "exactly the right thing" but conceded that screening criteria would have to change to account for person-to-person transmission.

"What I think is important to realise is that (infected passengers) weren't presenting as suspect cases according to the criteria at the time," Della Bosca told state radio.

"The criteria is going to have to change ... now we do have evidence of community transmission."

The Pacific Dawn sailed for the Great Barrier Reef with a fresh group of guests late Monday, and Roxon said authorities were closely monitoring the health of those on board.

"This is going to be a changing situation, I expect we will have some significant increasing numbers (of cases) over the next couple of days," she said.

Worldwide A(H1N1) cases soared to almost 13,000 Tuesday, infecting 46 countries and killing 92 people, 85 of them in Mexico, where the outbreak began last month.

[tropical]

Re: Australia defends swine flu cruise ship handling

Thanks Tonka (#1).

Such quarantine officials decision could be sustained only if the whole Sydney and Auss. have already milions of community localy infected people from the novel flu mixing and mingling everywhere.

If the above is not the case, the decision was wrong.

What kind of dificulties is to create an isolation in an builded isolated and well stocked, heated, foraged, served, toileted, autonomous structure as an cruise ship is?

A cruise ship is an ideal place for make long quarantines.

These folks pays to be weeks on the oceans, cruising.

So, its a matter of stocks or funds, even private funds which could than after be compensated by the gov, port city, or the shipowner, to quarantine them all in theirs cabins, or at least at the singular decks, for 10 days, until things clears up.

Leaving them on shore, and home, where they or their family members can "freely" roaming to the shops, etc, could additionaly spread it further in a town.

"They don't meet the criteria at the time, ..., but now they does" ...
14 confirmed, 172 showing symptoms or suspected, and primary no scholarships ...

Boy, that's the Dr. Niman commented inner country community spreading containment failure at work ("not to restrict internal travel in any way"), even in a country as Auss.

I could imagin what was the pressure from the cruising big potatoes at the eventuality of being helded off shore between 2000 souls and espected 10 days if the symptoms will insurge ...

I understand that it is bad for the folks being trapped, but to measure the country quarantine actions only from their point of view, and not from the others at the ground ...

[Tonka]

Re: Update 5/28

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25552008-23289,00.html

Pacific Dawn makes emergency stop in Airlie Beach

UPDATED: Siobhain Ryan | May 28, 2009
Article from: The Australian
THE ill-fated Pacific Dawn cruise ship, which is carrying three crew members who have swine flu, has been forced to make an unscheduled emergency stop in Airlie Beach as it makes its way down to Brisbane.


Swine flu family
John Darcy and his family remain confined to their hotel room in Sydney after his son Nicholas...
Views today: 300Sorry, this video is no longer available.Queensland health authorities announced earlier they were cutting short the holidays of 2,000 people on board the liner in an effort to stop swine flu spreading to the state's north.

IN-DEPTH: SWINE FLU

But Queensland Health says the ship has been forced to divert to Airlie Beach, to let off a child with a serious arm injury.

The child and their family do not have flu-like symptoms but will be kept in isolation as a precaution.

The child will most likely be treated at Proserpine Hospital.

P&O's Pacific Dawn was originally due to stop in the Whitsundays, Cairns and Port Douglas, but will now sail straight to Brisbane after the diversion, arriving there on Saturday.

Are or do you know anyone on the Pacific Dawn? Email us here

Earlier today it was announced that the number of Australians with swine flu has risen to 147, prompting Canberra to order 10 million doses of swine flu vaccine from CSL - enough to cover almost half of the population.

Chief Medical Officer Jim Bishop said populations most at risk, such as children, and states with high rates of infection, such as Victoria, would be among those prioritised for immunisation once the vaccine became available.

But with the vaccine still months away due to clinical trials, the federal Government is buying time by releasing the antiviral Tamiflu from the national stockpile for the first time, to Victoria and Western Australia.

An extra 1.6 million courses of a second anti-viral drug, Relenza, have also been purchased at a cost of $43 million to boost the stockpile, the Government announced.

Other states and territories are expected to follow Victoria and WA?s lead, and request a share of the national medicine stockpile.

Across the nation, some 103 people have been infected by the new H1N1 strain: 53 from Victoria, 33 from New South Wales, 8 from Queensland, 5 from South Australia, 3 from the Australian Capital Territory and one from Western Australia.

That compares to 61 confirmed cases at the same time yesterday.

Four have been hospitalised because of the severity of their symptoms, with three now on the mend.

While Australia remains fatality-free, more than 100 swine flu have been recorded worldwide, with the disease infecting around 13,400 people across 48 countries.

- With AAP

[Sally Furniss]

Re: Australia defends swine flu cruise ship handling

Carnival Offers Refund After Swine Flu Sickens Passengers, Crew

By Jason Gale and Gemma Daley

May 29 (Bloomberg) -- Carnival Corp. plans to reimburse passengers cruising Australia?s Great Barrier Reef after dozens of people caught swine flu onboard the luxury ship Pacific Dawn.

Fifty-three passengers and crew tested positive for the H1N1 virus after two voyages on the 11-deck vessel. Most had a ?mild illness? diagnosed after they disembarked in Sydney on May 25, health officials said. Pacific Dawn, with three infected crew members in isolation, is still sailing and due to reach Brisbane, Queensland?s capital, tomorrow.

Flu cases among those travelers have been found in Canberra and the states of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Victoria, the nation?s health department said by e-mail today. The infections caused Australia?s swine flu tally to more than double to 168 since early yesterday.

?We are very sympathetic to our passengers who have not received the holiday they had hoped for,? Ann Sherry, chief executive officer of Carnival Australia, said in a statement today. ?We are all adopting a very conservative approach to ensure the welfare of all passengers and crew.?

Miami-based Carnival will offer each passenger a 75 percent reimbursement of the fare paid and an extra 25 percent that can be used as credit on a future cruise, according to the statement. Passengers have already received A$100 ($79) of onboard credit.

The holidaymakers paid A$1,000 to A$5,000 for the 10-night trip on the Renzo Piano-designed ship that was to take them from Sydney to the Whitsunday Islands, Cairns, Port Douglas, Brisbane and back to Sydney, said Anthony Fisk, a Carnival Australia spokesman.

Casino, Jogging Track

The 795-cabin cruise ship, which boasts a casino, jogging track and five restaurants, made an unscheduled stop at Gladstone today so that five swabs from among the 1,900 passengers could be sent ashore for testing, the company said.

About 150 passengers who either live in Queensland or who will be traveling elsewhere will leave the ship when it docks in Brisbane, Jeannette Young, the state?s chief medical officer, said in a statement today.

?We will have a team of nurses and environmental health officers meeting the ship to carry out assessments,? Young said. Those with symptoms will be swabbed and provided with masks and a course of Roche Holding AG?s anti-flu medicine, Tamiflu, she said. All passengers will be asked to undertake voluntary home isolation for a week, she said.

Carnival was asked to alter the Pacific Dawn?s itinerary to avoid docking at Cairns and Port Douglas and minimize the risk of the virus spreading through Queensland?s major tourist centers, the state?s health department said.

New Caledonia

Swine flu may have spread to New Caledonia during Pacific Dawn?s previous voyage in the South Pacific, Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported today. Five people are suspected to have caught the bug in New Caledonia and almost 100 people are being monitored after the ship docked there for a day last week, ABC radio reported, citing Jean-Paul Grangeon, head of the French territory?s health department.

The infections on the Pacific Dawn may have stemmed from a 5-year-old boy who developed symptoms two days after starting the voyage to New Caledonia, Loyalty Islands and Vanuatu, Carnival?s Fisk said yesterday. The boy was diagnosed with the new strain, which was subsequently found in three people who had direct contact with him.

Under new protocol for arriving cruise ships, the New South Wales government will treat flu-like symptoms on such vessels as swine flu, pending tests to clear any infected people, state Health Minister John Della Bosca said in a May 27 statement.

Carnival said yesterday in a statement it is introducing measures to reduce risks, including screening passengers for flu before boarding and asking people with flu-like symptoms to report immediately to the ship?s medical center, where passengers will receive free treatment.

The company said May 18 that changing cruise itineraries because of a U.S. government recommendation against non- essential travel to Mexico, due to swine flu, may hurt earnings by 5 cents a share, the majority of which will be taken in the fiscal second quarter.

To contact the reporters on this story: Jason Gale in Singapore at j.gale@bloomberg.net; Gemma Daley in Canberra at gdaley@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: May 29, 2009 05:04 EDT

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601081&sid=ar5cZteV_064&refer=australia

[FrenchieGirl]

Re: Australia defends swine flu cruise ship Pacific Dawn handling

Australia swine flu liner docks

By Phil Mercer
BBC News, Sydney


The P&O Pacific Dawn is carrying some 2,000 passengers

The cruise liner at the centre of Australia's swine flu outbreak has docked in Brisbane after three crew members tested positive for the virus.

The swine flu infections forced the Pacific Dawn to abandon a voyage to the Great Barrier Reef.

The authorities in Queensland have put strict precautions into place to try to stop any possible spread of infection by passengers leaving the vessel.
Australia now has more than 200 confirmed cases of swine influenza.

Taking no chances

Those leaving the Pacific Dawn in Brisbane have been met by a team of nurses and medical staff.

All 2,000 passengers and several hundred crew members will be screened for swine flu and asked to isolate themselves at home for a week.
Five holiday-makers who had earlier showed symptoms of the virus are awaiting the results of tests.

Australia's new cases come at the start of winter in the southern hemisphere
Passengers who do not disembark in Brisbane will be kept onboard until the cruise liner departs for Sydney, its final destination, where similar precautions will be put into place.

The Pacific Dawn has been blamed for the recent increase in swine flu infections in Australia after health officials allowed hundreds of passengers to go home at the end of a previous cruise despite a suspected outbreak onboard.

At least 20 travellers were later diagnosed with the virus.

Some experts have said the government should cancel large sporting events and close schools to try to stop the respiratory disease spreading.

[Sally Furniss]

Re: Australia defends swine flu cruise ship Pacific Dawn handling

Fears home may breed superbug

Kathleen Donaghey
May 30th, 2009
<!-- p> THE house of an Oxenford family which contracted both swine flu and influenza A on the Pacific Dawn cruise ship could be the perfect breeding ground for a superbug. </p -->

THE house of an Oxenford family which contracted both swine flu and influenza A on the Pacific Dawn cruise ship could be the perfect breeding ground for a superbug.

Nick and Kiralea Campbell are recovering from swine flu in quarantine at home while their children have contracted influenza A.

Scientists have warned if the two viruses mix it could lead to an aggressive new superbug or, at the very least, one that is resistant to Tamiflu.

Swine flu and the seasonal flu have been confirmed on the Pacific Dawn cruise.

Gold Coast influenza expert Professor Mark von Itzstein yesterday described the situation as 'a dangerous environment'.

Prof von Itzstein said the house would be a 'melting pot' that could lead to a virus rapidly morphing.

He said people in this situation should be kept in hospital as a matter of priority.

"If you start co-infecting each other with a different virus, that's the mixing pot," said Prof von Itzstein. "Personally I think if there is, in the same family, two influenza viruses ... they should be placed as a higher risk family.

"These people should be quarantined in a hospital somewhere," he said.

Prof von Itzstein said the two viruses could either 're-assort' to create a superbug, or, if the influenza A strain was resistant to Tamiflu, make a superbug also resistant to the anti-viral drug.

Prof von Itzstein said all governments should be considering the scenario.

However, if the family was properly quarantined and did not come into contact with any other people, then he said the risks were 'negligible'.

Fears of a new superbug in Australia have been mounting as the winter season approaches and more people start taking Tamiflu.

The drug is solely produced by the pharmaceutical company Roche which in recent years had predicted falls in sales. Tamiflu has already been proven useless against several human flu strains, except swine flu, while the drug Relenza, created by Prof von Itzstein works against all flus.

Australia has more Tamiflu stockpiled than Relenza.

Mrs Campbell said no one at Queensland Health warned the family of the risks of having the different illness mixing at home.

"They haven't mentioned that it could change into something more," said Mrs Campbell.

"I don't think they know what to expect to be honest. They were unprepared and unsure of the outcome to be honest."

Queensland Health was unable to comment last night.

Bond University Professor Chris Del Mar said there was potential in Australia for swine flu developing resistance to Tamiflu.

Prof Del Mar will fly to Geneva in June as Australia's only scientific representative at an upcoming World Health Organisation convention on swine flu.

For two days a team of experts will develop a set of guidelines to tackle the spread.

Prof Del Mar said he was concerned Australia and other countries were being 'too liberal' in the use of Tamiflu.

Some health authorities interstate and overseas have been handing out the drug to school children who may have been exposed but weren't sick.

"It might be a very good thing if we're all sick and dying. I'm not sure if we should be using it on people at the same school as someone infected," he said.

Meanwhile, Australia's National Health and Research Council yesterday announced $7 million for groups wanting to undertake research into swine flu.

Prof von Itzstein, who heads Griffith University's Institute for Glycomics, said his team would apply so they could study the flu's susceptibility to antiviral medications and its capacity to change.

http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/2009/05/30/83801_gold-coast-news.html

[Sally Furniss]

Re: Australia: Swine flu on cruise ship Pacific Dawn

The cruise liner at the centre of Australia's swine flu outbreak has docked in Brisbane after three crew members tested positive for the virus.

The swine flu infections forced the Pacific Dawn to abandon a voyage to the Great Barrier Reef.

The authorities in Queensland have put strict precautions into place to try to stop any possible spread of infection by passengers leaving the vessel.

Australia now has more than 200 confirmed cases of swine influenza.

Taking no chances

Those leaving the Pacific Dawn in Brisbane have been met by a team of nurses and medical staff.

All 2,000 passengers and several hundred crew members will be screened for swine flu and asked to isolate themselves at home for a week.

Five holiday-makers who had earlier showed symptoms of the virus are awaiting the results of tests.
Scientist testing flu samples
Australia's new cases come at the start of winter in the southern hemisphere

Passengers who do not disembark in Brisbane will be kept onboard until the cruise liner departs for Sydney, its final destination, where similar precautions will be put into place.

The Pacific Dawn has been blamed for the recent increase in swine flu infections in Australia after health officials allowed hundreds of passengers to go home at the end of a previous cruise despite a suspected outbreak onboard.

At least 20 travellers were later diagnosed with the virus.

Some experts have said the government should cancel large sporting events and close schools to try to stop the respiratory disease spreading

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8074963.stm