Make sure staff and children always practise effective hand hygiene. Ensure appropriate cleaning practices are followed in the education and care service. Responsibilities of parents Keep the child at home until they are feeling well, and for 7 days after the onset of jaundice or illness. You must get a medical certificate of recovery from a doctor when the child is better. Encourage effective hand hygiene at home. Controlling the spread of infection It is important for the infected person to see doctor. The doctor may offer antibodies or vaccination to all people living in the same house as the infected person. If given within 14 days of exposure, antibodies may prevent hepatitis A or lessen the severity of the symptoms. The staff from your local public health unit will advise on the need for immunoglobulin or vaccination for children, educators and other staff. Ensure educators, other staff and children always practise appropriate hand hygiene. Ensure appropriate cleaning practices are followed. Treatment There is no treatment for hepatitis A, but it is a vaccine-preventable disease. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in high-risk areas receive a hepatitis A vaccine on the National Immunisation Program Schedule. Vaccination is recommended for educators and other staff.
Whooping cough (pertussis) Pertussis is a notifiable disease—contact your local public health unit if an adult or child in the education and care service has pertussis. Description Whooping cough (pertussis) is a highly infectious disease caused by infection of the throat with the bacterium Bordetella pertussis. It affects babies, children and adults. The disease usually starts like a cold, with a runny nose, tiredness and sometimes a mild fever. A cough then develops, usually in short bouts followed by a deep gasp (or ‘whoop’). Not every person makes the whooping sound—this is more common in unimmunised children. The cough can last up to 3 months. Young babies may stop breathing and sometimes turn blue. Adolescents and adults may just have a persistent cough. One in four children will also develop pneumonia, some have fits (convulsions) and some may develop inflammation of the brain (encephalitis). Whooping cough is particularly serious in children under 12 months of age and hospitalisation is often necessary. How does it spread? Whooping cough spreads by airborne droplets. It can also spread indirectly by contact with surfaces that have been contaminated by infectious airborne droplets (e.g. hands tissues, toys, eating utensils). Incubation period The incubation period is usually 9–10 days, but may range from 6 to 20 days. Infectious period A person is infectious from the beginning of the cold-like symptoms and may remain infectious for up to 3 if untreated, or until the person has been treated with an appropriate antibiotic for 5 full days. Exclusion period People with whooping cough should be excluded for 21 days from the onset of symptoms, or until the person has taken an appropriate antibiotic for at least 5 days. Responsibilities of educators and other staff Contact your public health unit, who will assist in identifying at-risk children and staff, and will provide advice about excluding those at risk. Advise the parent to keep the child at home until the child is feeling well and has taken an appropriate antibiotic for at least 5 days; or keep the child at home for 21 days from the onset of symptoms.
Useful contacts Public health units State or territory Authority Phone Web Australian Capital Territory ACT Health Directorate—Health Protection Disease Control 02 6205 2155 New South Wales NSW Health—Public Health Division 02 9391 9000 (general switchboard) (includes contact details for local public health units in New South Wales) Northern Territory Northern Territory Department of for Disease Control 08 8922 8044 (Darwin) Queensland Queensland Diseases Branch 07 3328 9724 07 3328 9728 South Australia SA Disease Control Branch 08 8226 6000 , then click on ‘Health services’ > ’Public health’ Tasmania Department of Health and and Environmental Health Service 1800 671 738 , then click on ‘Services’ > ’Public and environmental health’ Victoria Victorian Department of Health—Infectious Diseases Epidemiology and Surveillance (IDEAS) 1300 651 160 Western Australia WA Department of Health Communicable Disease Control Directorate 08 9388 4878 08 9388 4868 Occupational health and safety authorities State or territory Authority Phone Web Australian Capital Territory WorkSafe ACT 02 6207 3000 New South Wales Workcover Authority of NSW 13 10 50 Northern Territory NT Worksafe 1800 019 115 Centre
Queensland Workplace Health and Safety Queensland 1300 369 915 South Australia Workcover SA 13 18 55 Tasmania Workcover Tasmania 1300 776 572 Victoria WorkSafe Victoria 1800 136 089 Western Australia Worksafe Western Australia 1300 307 877 Food safety authorities State or territory Authority Phone Web Australian Capital Territory ACT Health Protection Service 02 6205 1700 New Wales NSW Food Authority 1300 552 406 Northern Territory Northern Territory Department of Health 1800 095 646 Queensland Queensland Health Branch (Food Safety Policy and Regulation Unit) 07 3234 0111 South Australia Department of Health—Food Policy and Programs Branch 08 8226 7100 , then click on ‘Health services’ > ‘Public health’ Tasmania Department of Health and Services—food unit 1800 671 738 , then on ‘Services’ > ‘Public and environmental health’ Victoria Food Safety Victoria 1300 364 352 Western Australia WA Department of Health—Food Unit 08 9388 4999