Pharmacy Daily | Legionnaires alert

THE Department of Health and Ageing is urging healthcare professionals to be on the look out for Aussies who have recently returned from Bali and who experience “flu like symptoms”. The alert is in response to a growing number of travellers returning from the Indonesian island with Legionnaires’ disease. “Over recent months, Australian health authorities have been made aware of 11 cases of Legionnaires disease detected in Victorian and Western Australian residents returning from holidays in the Kuta area of Bali between August 2010 and January 2011,” a statement from the Health Dept said. “There are specific antibiotics available to treat the disease,” said Australia’s Chief Medical Officer, Professor Jim Bishop. “The time between a person’s exposure to the bacteria and becoming sick is usually between two to 10 days,” he added. For more information see www.health.gov.au.

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