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Medline Plus had an informative, comprehensive article about dealing with fevers in babies and infants. We thought that you might appreciate seeing what they had to say. Cheers, Team KFA. What to do when your baby or infant has a fever The first fever a baby or infant has is often scary for parents. Most fevers are harmless and are caused by mild infections. Even the simple act of overdressing a child may cause a rise in their temperature. Regardless, you should promptly report any fever in a newborn that is higher than 38°C to the child’s GP. At the end of the day, if you are co ..read more

Have you joined the Australian FluTracking project yet? FluTracking is a simple online survey that takes less than 10 seconds to complete each week. The main aims of FluTracking are to develop a system that can provide: Community level, influenza-like illness surveillance; Consistent surveillance of influenza activity across all jurisdictions; and, Year-to-year comparison of the timing, attack rates, and seriousness of influenza in the community. A bit of history FluTracking is a long-term study which kicked off in 2006 as a combined research initiative of the Hunter Medical ..read more

Please do not rely on this newsletter for the very latest information. We simply wanted to share the Australian government’s update (Feb 3, 2020) with our members as it may be of concern for some families. Please go to the official site for the most up to date info. All of the information below was taken directly from the Australian Department of Health website. Information for Schools and Early Childhood Centres: An outbreak of novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) was detected in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China in late December 2019. What is this virus? Coronaviruses can make humans and an ..read more

Stock of EpiPen Jr has run out in Australia. TGA is working with Mylan to confirm arrangements for supply of the new batch. In light of this critical development, ASCIA (the Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy) recommends that all remaining stock in pharmacies should be provided to newly diagnosed infants and children weighing 7.5-20kg, and those who have used their EpiPen® Jr and have no other dose available. ASCIA requests that schools and early childhood education/care (ECEC) centres take into account the current supply issues, by not requesting additional ..read more

X-ray shows the risk of toddlers choking on grapes. Here is a timely reminder about choking hazards “Grapes are the third most common cause of food-related fatal choking incidents after hot dogs and sweets, according to Dr Cooper’s paper.” Experts warn about unusually large grapes. Toddlers love their fruit, but experts have an “incredibly distressing” warning all parents should hear. If your little ones’ love eating grapes, then make sure you take time to cut in half, particularly as this season’s grapes are large enough to become choking hazard warns paediatrician Dr Luke ..read more

An estimated 24,373 Australians suffer an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest every year – approximately 67 Australians every single day – with 75% of cardiac arrests occurring in a private residence and 14% occurring in public places. Earlier this year Monash University reported on a new study which revealed that almost 60% of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) patients do not receive bystander CPR even though it can more than double survival rates. The study also reported that only 12% of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients survive to hospital discharge and this rate drops to le ..read more

After a challenging winter of big bushfires, freezing artic blasts, and powerful red dust storms Australia is now heading towards another scorching summer. One of our native inhabitants that thrives in the warmer season is the snake, about 170 species of Australian land snake. Although the mere thought of one of these slippery land sliders may put some people into a cold sweat, the Australian National Museum and Australian Geographic point out that snake bites are actually quite rare and fatalities are low – around 4 per year. Associate Professor Bryan Fry, a herpetologist and veno ..read more

Many people are unaware that Invasive Meningococcal Disease (IMD) actually has a season and that season is upon us right now. The graph below demonstrates that, over the last 10 years, the incidence of IMD has had its peak in Q3 every year and more detailed data shows that September is the worst month. The most common risk factor reported amongst cases in 2018 was having a chronic disease (19%) followed by having a smoker in the household (14%), being a current smoker (9%) and attending school or university (9%). The most common age of onset of Meningitis B was 0 years follo ..read more

Most people would know that Triple Zero (000) is Australia’s primary emergency service number and should be used if urgent emergency assistance is required from either police, fire, or ambulance services. These calls are free from all kinds of phone. However, did you know that Australia also has two secondary emergency service numbers that only work with particular technologies? 112 is the GSM international standard emergency number which can only be dialled on a digital mobile phone. 106 is the text-based emergency number for people who are deaf, or who have a hearing or speech imp ..read more