NSW Health Acting Deputy Chief Health Officer, Dr Jeremy McAnulty, today provided an update on the status of current public health investigations involving World Youth Day (WYD) pilgrims in Sydney.
"At Oakhill College at Castle Hill, 47 pilgrims have been isolated with flu-like symptoms. Eight people from this group have tested positive for Influenza B," Dr McAnulty said.
"At Sydney Olympic Park at Homebush, nine pilgrims are suspected to have Influenza - three pilgrims have already tested positive for the Influenza B strain and one pilgrim for Influenza A.
"Public health experts have also been alerted to a group of pilgrims at Gladesville who have complained of flu-like symptoms. Details are currently being collected.
"And at Denistone, the local public health unit is investigating an outbreak of gastroenteritis amongst a group of pilgrims staying at St Therese's primary school. Twenty two of these pilgrims have viral gastroenteritis and are under observation."
Dr McAnulty said the viral gastroenteritis outbreak was not considered to be food related - it is highly infectious and is most often spread through direct contact with an infected person.
"We have urged infected people to stay isolated from others until they have completely recovered," Dr McAnulty said.
Symptoms for viral gastroenteritis can take between one and three days to develop and usually last between one and two days, sometimes longer.
In relation to Influenza, Dr McAnulty said every year in NSW hundreds of thousands of people are diagnosed with influenza - around 10 per cent of the population can expect to get the flu over the winter months.
He said the best ways to avoid spreading or getting influenza include:
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Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough and sneeze
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Wash your hands regularly to reduce the spread of infection
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Minor illnesses can be treated by a GP - save the emergency department for emergencies
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Get a flu shot from your GP.
"People can take easy steps to reduce their risk to exposure and can help stop the spread of the disease if they have symptoms," Dr McAnulty said.
NSW Health also confirmed that in the 24 hours to 10am today reporting showed a total of 64 WYD Pilgrims had attended emergency departments for treatment of illnesses and injuries.
This brings the number of WYD08 Pilgrims attending emergency departments to 163 since reporting commenced on 9 July.
For more information visit the NSW Health website for a fact sheet on gastroenteritis and influenza:
http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/infect/pdf/viral_gastro.pdf
http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/publichealth/infectious/diseases/influenza.asp