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More suspected swine flu found on Pacific Dawn cruise ship
The cruise ship Pacific Dawn has been diverted to a remote north Queensland cay after three new suspected cases of swine flu were reported.
All three suspected new cases were among crew members, who had been swabbed for flu and cleared after the ship docked in Sydney on its last cruise.
All crew on the vessel were given Tamiflu as a precaution before the vessel left Sydney for a planned cruise to the Whitsundays and Cairns.
But it is possible that crew members who had not shown symptoms of the flu in Sydney would not have tested positive for the disease, even though they could have been carrying it.
The Pacific Dawn is currently cruising up the Queensland coast with a new load of passengers after docking in Sydney on Monday when it was the centre of a swine flu alert.
On the cruise into Sydney, flu-like symptoms were reported by 172 passengers - five of whom were Queenslanders who subsequently tested positive for the disease.
The ship had reportedly been disinfected, and crew members tested and cleared before a new load of passengers boarded for the Queensland cruise.
The three crew members today suspected of having swine flu have tested positive to Influenza A. They are now all in quarantine aboard the Pacific Dawn.
The latest suspected infections have forced the liner to cancel its Whitsunday plans, and it is now heading for remote Willis Island, 400km off Cairns.
The island, home to a weather station, is just 500m long and 150m wide and its highest point is reportedly just under 10m above sea level.
A New South Wales Health officer on board the vessel has swabbed all three crew members so tests can be done, but the vessel is so far offshore that it will be some time until they can be sent to the mainland for testing.
A smaller vessel is due to meet the Pacific Dawn off the southern Queensland coast to bring the swabs back to the mainland for testing.
The results are expected to be known before the ships' scheduled arrival at Port Douglas.
Also today, Queensland Health confirmed eight cases of swine flu in the state.
The list now includes a four-year-old boy who tested positive for the disease.
He is being treated in Nambour Hospital. The boy was among the passengers on Pacific Dawn's previous cruise into Sydney.
Meanwhile, Queensland Health is considering opening a second flu clinic as the number of cases rise.
An influx of suspect swine flu cases at the Gold Coast Hospital in Southport prompted authorities to set up a flu clinic at Robina Hospital on Tuesday.
Now Queensland's chief health officer Jeannette Young says a second clinic may be opened.
"We are considering whether to open a flu clinic at the Gold Coast Hospital," Dr Young said.
"We are keeping a very tight control over this and we are making the decisions as they come up."
Before news emerged of the latest suspected infections on Pacific Dawn, Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said questions need to be asked about how infected passengers of a P&O cruise ship were allowed to travel interstate, as well as the wider implications for the handling of entry of any passengers from international destinations.
Ms Bligh said the cruise operators were co-operating fully and the ship would not dock in a populated area for several days if cases were confirmed on board, until the incubation period of the swine flu had lapsed.
She said this was the first time systems formulated in preparation for the Avian flu scare five years ago were put in place and "quite frankly it begs a lot of questions".
Ms Bligh said state and federal governments were in daily contact about developments in the swine flu pandemic, to ensure they were as prepared as possible and to ensure the public was fully informed.
Ms Bligh emphasised that parents needed to have a "plan B" as schools could be closed without notice if there was a confirmed case in the student or staff population.
"No school has closed yet, but we are saying to parents this could happen at short notice so they need to talk to grandparents or have some plan B in place."
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