REGULAR visitors to aged care facilities in Dubbo and throughout the Western NSW Local Health District (LHD) are being urged to stay away if they have so much as a "niggling cold".
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The LHD issued warnings and advice after the NSW Health Director of Communicable Disease Branch Dr Vicky Sheppeard revealed on Friday that influenza (flu) was still in the air despite warm weather.
"While the first week of August has been unseasonably warm, in the past few days NSW Health has noted that several indicators are pointing towards an increase in influenza severity across metropolitan Sydney and the Hunter region," she said.
Dr Sheppeard said it was important to take seriously the risks associated with the winter flu season, from July to October.
She said in susceptible people, flu symptoms could quickly become life-threatening.
The LHD's clinical nurse consultant for public health and immunisation Carol George immediately warned the community to consider the vulnerability of the elderly and small children.
"If you have even a niggling cold... please don't go visit nan, or mum or dad, in the aged care facilities," she said.
"If your child looks a bit sick, don't send them to child care."
Ms George said it was important to take steps to prevent passing flu onto people in general, but particularly those in risk groups who were not always easy to identify.
"What is mild in one person can be truly dangerous in another," she said. Dr Sheppeard said it was not too late in the season for people susceptible to flu to be vaccinated.
The influenza vaccine is free to pregnant women and people considered vulnerable to severe flu, including those with chronic illness and over the age of 65.
It is also provided to Aboriginal people over the age of 15.
Dr Sheppeard stressed the need for pregnant women to be vaccinated against the virus during any stage of their pregnancy.
"Vaccination during pregnancy is safe," she said.
"The seasonal flu shot has been given to millions of pregnant women over many years and continues to be the best defence against flu for women and their babies," she said.
Ms George said midway through the flu season "we haven't had any alerts to a surge in admissions for influenza in hospitals in our region".
