Gastroenteritis outbreak continues
Following deaths last week at a South Australian aged care facility; two more residents are showing signs of gastroenteritis.
Last week, two residents, a 78-year-old man and a 71-year-old woman in the Adelaide Hills based Hahndorf Residential Care, died after an outbreak of salmonella. They were among 20 people who contracted the infection.
The Health Department’s chief medical officer, Professor Paddy Phillips says the new cases, both women aged 78 and 81, are likely to have picked up the illness from another person.
“Their condition is stable except one has been admitted to hospital,” he said. “It probably arose from person to person contact, and we’re investigating these further two people with staff out there working with the residential care facility and the local council.”
The South Australian Health Department has been visiting the home to help with infection control and food hygiene and has already tested surfaces in the home’s kitchen to determine the source of the infection.
