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Speaker 1: Now there is a warning this morning for Territorians. There's

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Speaker 1: been a sharp rise in flucases across the top end

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Speaker 1: and sadly eight people have now died this year from influenza.

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Speaker 1: There has been nearly twenty nine hundred confirmed cases in

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty five so far this year, as I understand,

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Speaker 1: with over eight hundred of those just in the past month. Now,

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Speaker 1: health officials are pointing to big events, more people traveling

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Speaker 1: in cooler weather as some of the key reasons that

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Speaker 1: the virus is spreading more quickly than usual. Joining us

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Speaker 1: on the line is Into Health's public health physician, doctor

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Speaker 1: Ashishya Dove. Good morning to you, doctor you Dove.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, Katie. Glad to be back.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, good to have you on the show. Now, we've

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Speaker 1: obviously seen quite a large number two nine hundred flu

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Speaker 1: cases in the territory this year. What are your things

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Speaker 1: behind this sudden spike?

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, and I must say that I've had some recent numbers.

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Speaker 2: Those will the numbers at the end of July. Unfortunately,

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Speaker 2: we have now almost touched the four thousand marks. So

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Speaker 2: we have four thousand confirmed influenza cases this year and

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Speaker 2: again very unfortunate. We've had twelve deaths so far this year, So.

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Speaker 1: Four thousand confirmed cases now and twelve deaths this year,

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Speaker 1: Doctor A.

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Speaker 2: Dallas.

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Speaker 1: In terms of those deaths, are they people from all

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Speaker 1: around the Northern territory? Are they you know which locations

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Speaker 1: are we talking Darwin, Alice Springs.

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Speaker 2: Yes, it is all around, and it depends because flu

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Speaker 2: as we all know that it can be a very

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Speaker 2: mild disease, but it can have severe complications as well,

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Speaker 2: so it depends if you are having other pre morbid conditions.

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Speaker 2: So that's where there is more mortality. So it is everywhere,

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Speaker 2: and this is not what we were not expecting. This

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Speaker 2: is how it has been every year. Yes, this year

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Speaker 2: we've had comparatively more cases and more deaths. So it

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Speaker 2: is twenty percent higher than twenty twenty four and almost

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Speaker 2: eighty seven percent higher than twenty twenty three.

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Speaker 1: Well, why do you think we've seen? I mean, the

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Speaker 1: twenty percent higher than last year is a big jump,

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Speaker 1: but eighty seven percent higher than the year prior. Do

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Speaker 1: you think the year prior was maybe because we're still

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Speaker 1: sort of not COVID days, but a little bit where

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Speaker 1: we were still maybe a little bit more aware of

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Speaker 1: you know that like wearing masks and things.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so since the end of pandemic, the COVID nineteen,

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Speaker 2: I mean during the pandemic, there was reduction in the

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Speaker 2: flucases and it is a very seasonal disease. So during

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Speaker 2: the pan to make there were increase in personal hygiene,

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Speaker 2: people were maintaining physical distancing. So that's when the cases

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Speaker 2: really dropped. And this virus actually behaves very It is

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Speaker 2: a very weird virus, as I always say. So a

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Speaker 2: post pandemic, there have been some internal viral changes as well.

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Speaker 2: And since then the borders opened, there was a lot

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Speaker 2: more travel, not just domestically, but people from overseas came

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Speaker 2: in as well, So that's where we saw the upsurge

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Speaker 2: in those flowcases.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, right, and so and.

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Speaker 2: Of course to mention the vaccine coverage, since COVID nineteen,

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Speaker 2: the vaccine coverage has gone down everywhere.

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Speaker 1: Have you also sort of saying or do you think

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Speaker 1: there has been that spike in recent recent weeks due

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Speaker 1: to some of those major events that people have been attending.

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Speaker 2: There was a spike in July, for sure, and that's

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Speaker 2: we would normally see because it's the dry season, a

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Speaker 2: lot more travel, a lot more visitors from everywhere, and

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Speaker 2: it sort of continued in August and a bit in September,

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Speaker 2: but we are seeing a downtrend since then. Now fortunately

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Speaker 2: the cases are coming down.

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Speaker 1: Well. That is good. That is good to hear in

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Speaker 1: terms of you know, the advice for Territorians this morning,

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Speaker 1: particularly if they're starting to feel unwell, when should they

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Speaker 1: stay home? You know, when should they go and say help?

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Speaker 1: What's the advice?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, So anyone who's got any of those respiratory symptoms

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Speaker 2: like coughing, sneezing, fever, headache, they should try to stay

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Speaker 2: at home as much as possible. And again my advice

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Speaker 2: as a medical advisor for immunization, get your flu shots

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Speaker 2: every year. The flu virus it changes every year, so

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Speaker 2: that's why it's important to receive those shots annually. And

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Speaker 2: the vaccine is free and for many people who are

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Speaker 2: at risk of serious disease and hospitalization. So talk to

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Speaker 2: your vaccine provider now and get those shots now.

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Speaker 1: Just Also, something that we've previously spoken about is rhodavirus

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Speaker 1: and particularly in Catherine. Do you have any update on

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Speaker 1: how things are going there at the moment in terms

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Speaker 1: of those numbers.

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Speaker 2: Yes, I do have some numbers. So since July this year,

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Speaker 2: they were almost one hundred and eighty six cases of

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Speaker 2: rotavirus illness reported in the ant and almost sixty three

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Speaker 2: percent of them were in children under the age of

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Speaker 2: five years, So, particularly in Catherine, in July, we experienced

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Speaker 2: a spike in cases and thirty percent of those children

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Speaker 2: who had this disease were not fully vaccinated for this rotavirus.

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Speaker 2: But the good news is that the number of cases

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Speaker 2: in Catherine have dropped since then. We had almost thirty

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Speaker 2: four cases in July, sixteen in August and almost less

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Speaker 2: than ten in September. But yeah, we also had a

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Speaker 2: spike since then in Alice, where we had fifty cases

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Speaker 2: almost in a four week period.

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Speaker 1: They're right, And so what's the advice around ronavirus in

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Speaker 1: terms of, you know, some of the signs and symptoms

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Speaker 1: and what we need to do to protect ourselves from roodavirus.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, rotavirus, as you know that, it is infectious and

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Speaker 2: it spreads by fiicooral route. So one of the preventive

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Speaker 2: methods is of course the vaccine, but the vaccine is

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Speaker 2: only recommended for children less than five years of age,

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Speaker 2: so for others, once we know that there is rotavirus around,

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Speaker 2: we need to just follow the basic hygiene through hand washing,

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Speaker 2: especially after using the toilet. We just need to make

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Speaker 2: sure that nappies for those pubs are handled very carefully.

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Speaker 2: And then anyone with diarrhea should not be involved in

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Speaker 2: food handling, and should not be attending work, school or childcare,

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Speaker 2: and should not be swimming in public pools.

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Speaker 1: It seems like common sense, doctor, but sometimes that common

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Speaker 1: sense is not so easy to find. And I guess

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Speaker 1: it's always good for people to know what they do

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Speaker 1: need to do. But yeah, I guess if we all

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Speaker 1: practice that that good hygiene, it makes a big difference.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: And as I always say, just try to get your vaccines.

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Speaker 2: I mean the rotavirus vaccine. There are two doorses recommended

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Speaker 2: for those kids under the six years under six months,

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Speaker 2: So get those two shots for those children, and get

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Speaker 2: the flu shots annually for everyone who's recommended.

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Speaker 1: Well. MT Health's public health physician, Doctor ashish Yadov, good

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Speaker 1: to speak to you this morning. I really appreciate your time.

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Speaker 2: Thanks get thank you,