Understanding barriers to effective management of influenza outbreaks by residential aged care facilities.

Objective: To identify the perceived barriers to the implementation of the Australian national guidelines on influenza outbreak management with Sydney Local Health District (SLHD) residential aged care facility (RACF) staff.

Methods: All SLHD RACFs were invited to participate in a telephone interview. The questionnaire collected information about demographic characteristics and participants' level of agreement with statements regarding perceived barriers to implementing the national guidelines for influenza outbreak management.

Culture-positive shigellosis cases are epidemiologically different to culture-negative/PCR-positive cases.

Objective: To review the epidemiological differences between culture-positive and culture-negative (but ipaH PCR-positive) cases of shigellosis in Sydney Local Health District (SLHD), NSW, to inform whether changes to the national case definition for shigellosis are required.

Methods: An audit of all cases of shigellosis (culture-positive vs. culture-negative/PCR-positive) in SLHD from 1 January 2013 to 30 June 2015 was conducted and demographic, clinical and risk factors were analysed and compared between these groups.

Lessons Learned From Implementing an Incident Command System During a Local Multiagency Response to a Legionnaires' Disease Cluster in Sydney, NSW.

The incident command system (ICS) provides a common structure to control and coordinate an emergency response, regardless of scale or predicted impact. The lessons learned from the application of an ICS for large infectious disease outbreaks are documented. However, there is scant evidence on the application of an ICS to manage a local multiagency response to a disease cluster with environmental health risks.

Foodborne Illness Outbreak Investigation in a High-Profile Sports Club.

A foodborne illness outbreak involving an elite sports team was investigated by a public health unit in Sydney, Australia. An epidemiological association was established between gastrointestinal illness and the consumption of food supplied by an external caterer, with a lamb meal most strongly associated with illness. Genetically identical Salmonella isolates were identified from clinical specimens, residual food items, and an environmental swab taken from the catering premises.