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Katie spoke with Anthony Draper from the Centre for Disease Control about Rotavirus in the NT · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: Now I mentioned a little bit earlier this morning that
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  Speaker 1: people in the Northern Territory are being alerted to an
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  Speaker 1: increase in roadavirus, an infection that causes well some issues
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  Speaker 1: with his stomach. From my understanding, so rotavirus notifications have
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  Speaker 1: increased over the past two months, with ninety one cases
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  Speaker 1: as I understand, recorded since the first of September. Most
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  Speaker 1: of those have been in children under ten years of age.
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  Speaker 1: Now joining me on the line from the Center for
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  Speaker 1: Disease Control, Anthony Draper, Good morning to.
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  Speaker 2: You, Hi, Katie. How are you going?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, really well, Thanks so much for your time, Anthony.
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  Speaker 1: There has obviously been this spike in rhodavirus. Firstly, what
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  Speaker 1: exactly is rotavirus?
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  Speaker 2: So, roadavirus is a virus, and obviously and it gives
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  Speaker 2: you symptoms like fever, vomiting, and watery diarrhea. It's really
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  Speaker 2: infectious and it spreads are really easily, particularly amongst kids
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  Speaker 2: in places like childcare centers, within families, and also where
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  Speaker 2: kids come together and play. So twenty years ago, we
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  Speaker 2: used to get hundreds and hundreds of cases of rotavirus
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  Speaker 2: each month in the Northern Territory, and we used to
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  Speaker 2: have whole wards in hospitals, particularly down in Alice Springs
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  Speaker 2: that were full of kids with diarrhea, and overseas rotavirus
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  Speaker 2: actually killed kids. It's a terrible disease. But we're lucky
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  Speaker 2: that we've had a vaccine in Australia for about fifteen years,
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  Speaker 2: the roadavirus vaccine in the Northern Territory. We started it
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  Speaker 2: in two thousand and six and then the rest of
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  Speaker 2: Australia in two thousand and seven. And this vaccine prevents
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  Speaker 2: you from dying from rotavirus and also prevents you from
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  Speaker 2: getting really really sick. So most kids will get fever,
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  Speaker 2: vomiting and watery diarrhea, but in kids under us six
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  Speaker 2: months of age, they can get really really severely dehydrated
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  Speaker 2: and sick very quickly.
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  Speaker 1: Wow. So we've had ninety one cases since September this
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  Speaker 1: year comparatively to previous years, so I think the year
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  Speaker 1: before there was only three.
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  Speaker 2: So what's caused the increase, Well, I think it's probably
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  Speaker 2: people moving around a little bit more. You know. The
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  Speaker 2: coronavirus pandemic has been terrible in terms of us not
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  Speaker 2: being able to visit friends and families and things like that,
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  Speaker 2: but it's also been pretty good for stopping a lot
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  Speaker 2: of diseases. But as Australia it has been opening up
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  Speaker 2: and people have been moving around a little bit more
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  Speaker 2: and we've seen these diseases that do normally spread around
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  Speaker 2: sort of coming back to life. And in the last
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  Speaker 2: since the start of September, we've actually seen over one
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  Speaker 2: hundred cases now. So rotavirus is very infectious and it's
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  Speaker 2: very easily spread, or we expected to spread more. But
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  Speaker 2: what I did want your viewers to know is that
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  Speaker 2: you know, it's a preventable disease through vaccine. So when
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  Speaker 2: you have a baby, you know, if you get their
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  Speaker 2: roadavirus vaccine at six weeks of age and four months
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  Speaker 2: of age, you're very it's very effective at preventing severe
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  Speaker 2: illness and death.
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  Speaker 1: Now tell us. So it's over one hundred cases now
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  Speaker 1: since September, is it?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, we've had about twenty cases in the last week. Wow.
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  Speaker 1: And so like where exactly have they been up here
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  Speaker 1: in the top end or in Central Australia in specific areas.
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  Speaker 2: All over the place to be honest. So we thought
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  Speaker 2: it came in over the Kimberly sort of late August
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  Speaker 2: and September, and once it's in. It's that infectious that
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  Speaker 2: just spread. So each year we'll either see it come
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  Speaker 2: in down south and march its way up to Darwin,
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  Speaker 2: or sometimes it'll start in Darwen and march its way
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  Speaker 2: down south. It's very infectious.
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  Speaker 1: And so have there been sort of outbreaks at childcare
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  Speaker 1: centers or anything like that or has it just been
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  Speaker 1: across the board.
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  Speaker 2: We have had a couple of outbreaks in childcare centers
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  Speaker 2: in the top ends. And the best way to prevent outbreaks,
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  Speaker 2: and a lot of childcare centers do the right thing
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  Speaker 2: is to make sure that people who've got diarrhea don't
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  Speaker 2: come to childcare, whether it's some cares or children, and
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  Speaker 2: to make sure that you're disinfecting things really thoroughly. And
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  Speaker 2: I think during the pandemic we've become very good at
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  Speaker 2: disinfecting things and washing hands and staying away from people
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  Speaker 2: when we're sick.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely. Now I know that Anthony, you're not able
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  Speaker 1: to sort of say which childcare centers, and I'm sure
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  Speaker 1: that those childcare centers have indeed notified are the kids
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  Speaker 1: that are there. But did you say it was two
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  Speaker 1: childcare centers that have been impacted.
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  Speaker 2: I'll just say there's a couple, okay, and anecdotally we
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  Speaker 2: hear that there's a bit of gastro going around, which
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  Speaker 2: is what prompted us to put a media release out.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, which is fair enough. And I think it's so
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  Speaker 1: important that parents know. I mean, we should all be
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  Speaker 1: making sure, whether we're parents or not, that we are
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  Speaker 1: doing all the right things. But does a lot of
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  Speaker 1: it come down to that hygiene?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, hygiene, but with rotavirus in particular, getting vaccinated so
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  Speaker 2: you know, when your kids born six weeks of age
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  Speaker 2: and four months of age, you're really setting your child
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  Speaker 2: up for a good childhood where they won't get rotavirus
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  Speaker 2: and all the other vaccines as well that you can get.
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  Speaker 2: So the NT's got an immunization schedule, and if you
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  Speaker 2: follow that, you're setting your child up for a good childhood.
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  Speaker 2: If they're not vaccinated, or even if they are vaccinated,
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  Speaker 2: washing hands, be really scrupulous with your hygiene. One of
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  Speaker 2: the best things to come out of the pandemic is
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  Speaker 2: that people are really focusing on their hygiene and protecting
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  Speaker 2: themselves and their family.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, so that is the best advice. If if
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  Speaker 1: you have been vaccinated against rotavirus, is it still it
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  Speaker 1: still sounds like it's possible that you could get it
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  Speaker 1: or maybe well, obviously you can still get diarrhea if
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  Speaker 1: there is something going around.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, you might catch it. But the thing with the
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  Speaker 2: vaccines that prevents you from getting really really quick, it
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  Speaker 2: will prevent you from dying. Hopefully. The vaccines are great.
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  Speaker 2: They're one of the best things that's happened in public
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  Speaker 2: health in the last century.
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  Speaker 1: With those cases that we've had in the NT so
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  Speaker 1: far since September, of any of them ended up hospitalized.
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  Speaker 2: I couldn't tell you off the top of my right now,
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  Speaker 2: but I presume probably a couple have been.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, And so the best advice make sure if your
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  Speaker 1: children aren't vaccinated against it, make sure that you do
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  Speaker 1: get them vaccinated. But if you have got diarrhea or
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  Speaker 1: any of those other sort of tummy issues, make sure
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  Speaker 1: that you're not handling food and make sure you keep
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  Speaker 1: your kids home from childcare.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. And also, you know, it's November and it's horrible
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  Speaker 2: at the moment in terms of the temperature. So if
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  Speaker 2: you do get sick with gastro you know, stay away
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  Speaker 2: from other people. Seek medical help if you get really,
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  Speaker 2: really sick. But it's also really important to make sure
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  Speaker 2: that you're keeping hydrated, so you know, if you're breastfeeding
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  Speaker 2: your child, make sure you're increasing feeds, and if the
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  Speaker 2: child's older, you can give them more water or dilute
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  Speaker 2: cordial or whatever they'll take to make sure that you're
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  Speaker 2: keeping their fluids up, and so just to.
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  Speaker 1: Sort of clarify, just to get a bit further detail
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  Speaker 1: as well, it is mostly kids who are impacted, but
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  Speaker 1: comparents or can adults still get it.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, you can with roatavirus. Most people are exposed to
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  Speaker 2: rotavirus in their childhood and most people like my age
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  Speaker 2: would have probably had rotavirus as a kid and get
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  Speaker 2: some sort of immunity. But you know, the majority of
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  Speaker 2: kids who get it now you won't expect them to
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  Speaker 2: get it again, and if they do, it will be
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  Speaker 2: super super mild. But obviously mums are the ones. Dads
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  Speaker 2: sometimes as well, but mums usually the ones who are
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  Speaker 2: changing the nappies and looking after kids, so obviously they're
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  Speaker 2: a good chance of getting sick themselves. But if you
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  Speaker 2: wash your hands all the time, don't change nappies, where
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  Speaker 2: you prepare food and clean down areas where you changing nappies,
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  Speaker 2: you're a good chance of preventing yourself getting sick.
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  Speaker 1: Good advice, well, Anthony Draper from the Center for Disease Control,
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  Speaker 1: I really appreciate your time this morning. Thanks so much
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  Speaker 1: for having a chat with us worry.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks Katie, thank you.