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Influenza outbreak in a major regional centre in New South Wales, Australia in 2017 – Can we more effectively triage another one?

Ng, E., Lo, P., Venter, A.

Abstract

Hospital admission with confirmed influenza in Australia in 2017 was 2.3 times the previous five-year’s average. Whilst the proportion of those admission to intensive care units were relatively low, the impact of the season included depletion of finite hospital resources, high levels of absence from work and great burden on primary care facilities. We report the 2017 influenza outbreak in the major regional health facility of Wagga Wagga Base Hospital, New South Wales. From July to October 2017, there were 294 confirmed cases of influenza. Influenza A (H3N2) accounted for the majority of positive cases with 223 (76%) and influenza B confirmed in 71 (24%). The outbreak peaked in August with 49% (143/294) of influenza cases confirmed primarily upon presentation to the emergency department. For our data we utilised a validated triage scoring system to retrospectively predict the need for hospitalisation and treatment.

November, 2020
10.37912/WaggaJOM.0201.11

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