title: Lessons from a respiratory illness outbreak in an aged-care facility.
abstract: This report outlines practical lessons learnt from an influenza-like outbreak in an aged-care facility in NSW, which affected 26 residents, resulted in 14 hospital admissions and was associated with six deaths. No common causative agent was identified. Key recommendations include: encouraging aged-care facilities to establish mechanisms that improve the early identification of outbreaks and timely implementation of outbreak control strategies; identifying strategies to inform general practitioners of outbreaks if they have patients residing in aged-care facilities; and improving the vaccination coverage of the aged-care workforce.
authors.affiliation: Public Health Unit, North Coast Area Health Service.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Turahui
authors.forename: Cate
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wallace
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Corben
authors.forename: Robin
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Osborne
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D005260:Female; D006299:Health Services for the Aged / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D017053:Infection Control; D008297:Male; D009517:New South Wales / Q000453:epidemiology; D011634:Public Health; D012112:Residential Facilities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*