New SA mandatory reporting for potentially deadly virus
SA doctors must now declare cases of the potentially deadly hantavirus following an outbreak onboard a luxury cruise ship sailing to Cape Verde. SA Health stressed it was a precautionary measure.
Doctors are now required to notify SA Health about any cases of the potentially deadly hantavirus following cases onboard a luxury cruise ship, but so far, South Australia has been unscathed by the latest global outbreak.
Health Minister Blair Boyer has declared hantavirus a notifiable and controlled notifiable condition under the South Australian Public Health Act 2011.
The announcement was made in the Government Gazette yesterday, with the minister “being satisfied that it is necessary in the interests of public health because of urgent circumstances”.
“Hantavirus has been declared a notifiable condition in South Australia as a short-term precautionary measure, ensuring health authorities can respond in the unlikely event of a case being reported in Australia,” SA Health’s chief public health officer Nicola Spurrier said.
“This follows an outbreak of ‘Andes virus’, a type of hantavirus infection, involving passengers and crew of a cruise ship which disembarked in the Canary Islands.
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“The risk of an imported case or an outbreak in Australia is extremely low. SA Health has issued advice to medical practitioners out of an abundance of caution. This declaration expires after six months.”
It comes after Australian citizens who were holidaying on a luxury Dutch cruise ship hit by the Andes hantavirus outbreak landed in the country for quarantine at a facility near Perth.
The latest hantavirus outbreak occurred following an outbreak on board the luxury cruise ship MV Hondius, which was sailing from Argentina to Cape Verde.
As of May 27, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said 13 people on the cruise ship had caught the “severe respiratory illness”, leading to three deaths.
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WHO estimates there are up to 100,000 human cases across the world each year. It said the risk of a global outbreak is low, but it would continue to monitor the situation.
Federal Health Minister Mark Butler yesterday announced an extension of the quarantine period for the group, which included four Australians, a permanent resident and one New Zealander, until June 23.
According to SA Health, when a disease is declared a notifiable condition, it allows them to investigate, monitor and control its spread.
It means that doctors and diagnostic laboratories must notify SA Health of suspected or diagnosed cases of the virus.
While medical practitioners, pharmacists and those administering vaccines need to notify SA Health if there is an “adverse event” following immunisation.
However, SA Health reiterated that the declaration was purely a precautionary measure to match other states, with no cases currently in South Australia.
Hantaviruses mainly spread among rodents, but can be spread among humans in rare cases. It typically affects people one to eight weeks after exposure and causes flu-like symptoms like fatigue and fever.
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