Thanks for the well wishes about my uncle but I have an update. It was a golden staph infection. Apparently these have been common in the Hunter Valley recently so unfortunately there has to be a coronial inquest to see if the hospital (the one he was at in Scone, a small town, not the one in Newcastle where he died) bears any responsibility. He was very run down & depressed because his closest friend had also died recently & it appears that he didn't have much resistance at the end. So the funeral won't be for at least a week.