NT Health’s Public Health Physician Dr Ashish Yadav says there have been more than 3,300 flu cases and 9 deaths in the NT since the start of the year and he’s encouraging people to get vaccinated and practice good hygiene

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now we know the Northern Territory has been hit hard
in the past month by an influenza outbreak which has
taken as I understand it, eight lives. Now there have
been two thy eight hundred and ninety five notifications of
influenza in the Northern Territory so far this year. Now
joining me on the line is Anti Health's public health physician,

(00:24):
doctor Yashish your Dove.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Good morning to you, Good morning, Katie.

Speaker 1 (00:30):
Thank you so much for your time this morning. Now,
can you talk us through the latest number of cases
and how things are tracking.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
Yes, So we had our surveillance update published at the
beginning of this month and we had around twenty eight
hundred cases back then. As you mentioned, I can tell
you that that number has gone up since then. So
as of yesterday we have had more than thirty three

(00:59):
hundred cases in the territory and we've had unfortunately one
more depth. So in total we've had nine deaths so
far this year.

Speaker 1 (01:09):
Oh wow, I mean, that's incredibly sad to hear, doctor
have in terms of how those numbers compared to previous years,
particularly the dates, how do we compare to last year
for example?

Speaker 2 (01:27):
Yeah, that's very important and I should also mention that
since then, so since the start of this month. That's
the good part that the cases are coming down so
compared to what we saw previously last month as well
as the month before, the cases seem to be coming down. Now.

(01:48):
If we compare the cases overall from last year and
also from twenty twenty three, again, unfortunately this year, the
number of cases are higher. We had around thirty three
hundred cases across the entire year in twenty four and
we've already passed that number this year by this time.

(02:11):
So yes, definitely it's on the higher side this year.
And that's how typically how the flu virus behaves.

Speaker 1 (02:18):
Do we know what sort of you know, what's caused
that increase in numbers. Are we saying a really high
volume into state as well, or what's going on?

Speaker 2 (02:29):
Yeah, that's I mean, I call this virus a very
nasty virus. And typically what we've seen across the world
is that usually five to ten percent of the community
will get this infection annually, so that is consistent. It's

(02:50):
just that it changes over the years as well. So
a few years like you'll have slightly lower number and
then you can have a spike that's just how this
virus behaves.

Speaker 1 (03:03):
What is your advice to territories this morning in terms
of how we can protect ourselves, the different initiatives or
the different things that we can do to you know,
to try our best, I guess not to end up
getting influenza.

Speaker 2 (03:17):
Yeah, so vaccination, as I've always said, is the safest
means of protection from influenza. And also, like if you
get any of the flu symptoms, So flu symptoms can
everyone knows that it can vary from like mild symptoms
of fever, chills, headache, myalgaea, coughing, and it can have

(03:40):
some complications like pneumonia and cardiovascular complications as well. So
like if you get any of those symptoms, it's beast
to stay away, stay at home, feel isolated, and until
the symptoms have resolved, just try not to get in

(04:05):
touch with other people. And also the practice of good
hand hygiene. And also we also encourage people to wear
masks if they're visiting a clinic or they are visiting
a hospital. So yeah, those are the usual measures which
people do need to take.

Speaker 1 (04:23):
And doctor you dove in terms of you know, like
obviously that's the advice in terms of trying to protect ourselves.
But are there some people in the community who are
at greater risk potentially of the impact of flu being
more harmful to them, I mean our sayors or our
young children for example.

Speaker 2 (04:42):
Absolutely. Yes, the risk of severe disease is more likely
in people who are as you said, older, in our
young kids, in the indigenous population, and also people who
have never been exposed to flu virus before. And also
it depends from the type of strain. So flu A

(05:03):
and flu B are the most common types. And in
those flu B, if you get flu B, that has
got higher morbidity and there's more likely to get complications
from that. And also people who are immino compromised, people
who are OBEs, are pregnant women, and also people who smoke.

(05:24):
They're all at risk.

Speaker 1 (05:25):
Yeah, right now in terms of I mean if you
do if you get the flu, like what do you
need to just stay home? Is that the you know,
I'm assuming that is the case, Just die away from
other people.

Speaker 2 (05:37):
Yes, that's the best advice people should follow. And again,
as I've talked about those who are at risk, they
might be in the need of anti virals from their GP.
I that's the best protection they have and.

Speaker 1 (05:53):
I understand as well. There is a tracking survey that
the department is asking people to type party and if
that is if they do contract influenza, it is for everyone.

Speaker 2 (06:04):
I do it every week. So it just is a
tracker which tells us that who is getting it, who
is not getting those symptoms, and also it's just a
good tool for us to keep track on the numbers
and the coverage.

Speaker 1 (06:22):
Well, Anie Health's public health physician, doctor Ashishiedov, I really
appreciate you on this morning. Thank you very much for
having a chat with us.

Speaker 2 (06:32):
Thanks Katie, thank you