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Almost 200 children have been struck down by gastroenteritis in Brisbane alone since June.

Outbreaks of gastro have increased 400 per cent in the last two months, with more than 50 daycare centres reporting two or more cases to Queensland Health.

In the north of the city, authorities were alerted to outbreaks – two or more cases in three days – by 35 daycare centres between June 15 and August 14, according to the Courier Mail. 

Parents have been strongly cautioned to keep sick children at home while they are sick, and keep them away from other children for 48 hours after they appear to be well.

‘We are asking that you keep all children presenting with vomiting and/or diarrhoea symptoms away from the Centre as we try to control the spread of infection.’

A Queensland Health spokesman acknowledged that the outbreaks were ‘significantly’ higher this year than for the same periods in 2016.

‘The data indicates a significantly high number of outbreaks during this eight week period in 2017, however, it should be noted that half of these outbreaks involved fewer than 10 unwell children,’ the spokesman said.

‘In general, it has been a big year for viral gastroenteritis outbreaks across the region.’

A number of child and aged care facilities across Melbourne have also been hit with the highly contagious stomach flu.

According to the Herald Sun, 80 per cent of these cases are from aged care homes and services, with some being quarantined in an effort to contain the rapidly spreading illness.

NSW Health said there was a 34 per cent increase in viral gastroenteritis notifications across the state over the previous year.

Gastro is an infection of the gut which typically causes diarrhoea and vomiting and should only last for a few days.

According to Health Direct infectious gastro spreads very easily through contact with an infected person or even through contaminated food or water.

If you or your child is feeling unwell it is best to stay at home so you don’t spread the infection.

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  • Yuck. Having gastro in the house is the worst! Colds and flu are bad enough but there is nothing like gastro! It goes through our small community yearly and you’re lucky to escape it.

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  • gastro sucks and how could you even drag a sick kid around like that to spread it even further! definately just stay home! let the little ones get better! teach your little ones about good hygiene to help try and prevent this

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  • That’s a lot of kids just in one city!!

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  • Yes, this gets passed around so easily.

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  • Once you have had this you know how damn awful it is.

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  • It’s very important to keep fluids up.

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  • Gastro is absolutely awful and staying at home is a necessary must.

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  • What an incredible young boy. And to know to commence cpr at such a young age!!

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  • This is going through my house at the moment. Spent my birthday puking my guts up. So not fun.


    • You poor thing! :( Hope you get the chance to celebrate your birthday at a later date. :)

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  • This roars through communities – hope all recover soon.

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  • I don’t live in either of those states. I had severe literally non-stop gastro for a few hours. It took me nearly 2 weeks to regain full strength.

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  • Poor kids when they are sick ????

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  • Very scary when a outbreak happens,best to beaware and contact a doctor if in doubt.

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  • Yeah, 5 of us were tackled by this gastroenteritis and it was bad !

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  • It’s horrible to see the kids sick with this.

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