Health practitioners and laboratory services are required by law to notify the Department of certain infectious diseases.
The Victorian Government’s Chief Health Officer undertakes a variety of statutory functions under the Health and Food Acts, and is responsible for
The Chief Health Officer is Dr Rosemary Lester. Dr Lester acts as the Government’s media spokesperson on matters relating to the control of disease and promotion of health as required eg. communicable diseases, land/air/water contamination, radiation, food safety, ethics and public health emergencies.
The Chief Health Officer regularly informs Victorians about issues with the potential to impact their health and safety. Information is provided via health alerts and advisories and a range of other documents accessible on this site.
A voluntary national recall of Jindi soft cheeses was announced today following further cases of listeria. See the media release for further information, call the Jindi Hotline 1800 680 175 or visit www.jindi.com.au. For clinical enquiries contact the Communicable Disease Unit on 1300 651 160.
General practitioners are urged to assess all patients' drug and alcohol history before prescribing fentanyl or any opioid. The injection of fenanyl extracted from transdermal patches has resulted in a number of fatal and non-fatal overdoses.
The Department has responded to the TGA recall of Sanofi's BCG vaccine to ensure supply issues are appropriately managed. For more information see Tuberculosis (BCG) vaccine - Information for health professionals.
This document provides key health messages to assist doctors, nurses and allied health professionals in giving advice to people about vitamin D deficiency. It outlines population groups at risk of having low vitamin D; sun exposure and vitamin D; and vitamin D screening and treatment. This guideline is intended to be used in conjunction with current SunSmart policies and guidelines.
The installation of smart meters in Victorian households and small residences has raised concerns about increased exposure to radiation. State and Federal radiation experts have confirmed there is no evidence to support these concerns.
The RSS file contains details of the latest alerts that are available and it helps you keep up to date without having to check the site itself. Clicking on the icon in most current web browsers will add the feed to the top of your browser. There are also a number of third party RSS packages available.
Last updated:
14 May, 2013
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Chief Health Officer, Victoria.
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