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"The pandemic H1N1
influenza virus, first reported in the US and Mexico in early
2009, was likely to be the main strain circulating next
winter. The infection is expected to return after the summer. Current
low levels of swine flu are still causing serious illness
- Eligibility for vaccination has now been extended to travellers to countries in the southern hemisphere after advice from government vaccination advisers.
14/02/10 Set up to dispense drugs to
patients in Parents with young children
are still being advised to have them immunised against the
disease. “
The virus may not be around at the moment but it could come
back ” About five million of the 90 million doses of antiviral drugs that were made available were actually dispensed. An announcement is expected in around 10 days regarding what the government will do with its remaining stocks of vaccine.
23/01/10 The majority of medical staff
remain unprotected against the virus. In reply to another Freedom of Information request, it has been revealed that only one child who was previously healthy has died from swine flu across the West Midlands region. Of the seven children aged under 15 who have died, all but one had an underlying health condition.. Two children in the region with underlying health conditions have died in the under-five category since the epidemic began - which is the latest age-group that is currently being advised to have the swine flu vaccination. The West Midlands Strategic
Health Authority had persistently refused to release the data
but the Director of public health for the West Midlands
region, Dr. Rashmi Shukla, denied concealment and said that
swine flu disproportionately affected younger people. Sir Liam Donaldson, has said 20 children under five have died in the UK from swine flu-related conditions since April. Most of these had underlying illnesses. In comparison, research by
Douglas Fleming, director of the Birmingham Research Unit of
the Royal College of General Practitioners, showed that
'mortality in children from influenza and respiratory
syncytial virus' showed that, on average, 38
children under one year of age in England die each year from
seasonal flu. Amid predictions that a "third wave" of the pandemic is unlikely to happen, the government is making plans to offload millions of doses of swine flu vaccine and officials are in discussion with manufacturer GSK over contracts for remaining doses pre-purchased by the UK. Options include_
“We have to keep a
stockpile for ourselves anyway because we don't know what's
going to happen in 2010 ” The UK bought 60m doses of
swine flu vaccine from GSK and 30m from Baxter - but the
smaller contract had a 'break clause' should the doses not be
needed. Last week France announced it was selling millions of doses of swine flu vaccine after finding they had more than enough to cope with the outbreak.
or
ring NHS
Direct
can be contacted on 0845 46 47 Download Swine Flu information .pdf SWINE FLU SYMPTOMS (Source: NHS)
HYGIENE ADVICE (Source National Public Health Service for Wales)
14/01/10 Since swine flu was first reported in April 2009 there have been 360 deaths across the UK - 251 in England, 28 in Wales, 64 in Scotland and 17 in Northern Ireland - mostly in people with underlying health conditions. Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam
Donaldson, said they would be calculating the economic costs
of the pandemic at a later date.
30/12/09 "Swine flu has had less
public attention recently, but it is still a major threat to
public health. Young children are still very much at risk, and
when they are infected some suffer severely, so this
vaccination programme for the under fives is very important.
Having your child vaccinated greatly improves his or her
protection from the disease, but also helps to make it less
likely the illness will be spread between children." GOOD NEWS BAD NEWS Of the 299 deaths, 14 in Northern Ireland, 26 in Wales, 56 have been in Scotland, and 203 in England. 08/12/09 Negotiators had offered doctors £5.25 per dose (comparable with the rate for the first priority group) but failed to see eye-to-eye over the amount of flexibility the government was willing to give doctors over the rest of their workload. Under the terms of their existing contract, doctors are paid bonuses to give most patients appointments within 48 hours, as well as allowing them to book in advance; and without this, the BMA argued, vaccinating three million children during the busy winter period would leave doctors out of pocket. [And we wouldn't want that to happen; would we .. ?_Ed] The vaccination of the first wave groups, including health workers, is continuing as normal since they were covered by a deal that was brokered in early autumn. "We sincerely wanted to
be able to reach a national agreement. Unfortunately this has
not been possible, because the government would not support
adequate measures to help free up staff time. At the busiest
time of the year for general practice, with surgeries already
dealing with the additional work of vaccinating the first wave
of at-risk groups, we felt this was vital in order to ensure
this next phase could be carried out quickly." It might have been possible for some doctors to agree to vaccinate children if they can reach individual deals with their local health managers; however, the government has asked health chiefs to focus their attention on other NHS workers. District nurses routinely carry out vaccinations for housebound patients as part of other immunisation programmes, but might not be able to vaccinate such large numbers of children. Health visitors are also likely to be asked to help. Their level of experience of vaccinating varies considerably and many will need extra training. 04/12/09 Still 1,000 people are in hospital in the UK, and the death toll has reached 270. In Scotland there are estimated figures of 12.300 people contracting swine flu last week, compared to just over 21,000 the week before. The government report progress made with the vaccination programme, with1.6m doses given in England, a rise of 600,000 in the past week.
01/12/09 Swine flu was having an especially
strong impact on children: 86 have died this year - greater
than the number that normally die in an entire flu season. In the UK, up to a third of children
in some areas may have had swine flu, but many will not have
been ill. This is particularly true of "hotspot areas" such as London and the West Midlands where a third of school-aged children may have had the virus - but only one in 10 (or less) got ill and showed symptoms. The average across the UK is probably about a fifth. This reinforce the supposition that the pandemic is a mild strain of flu. SWINE FLU IN CHILDREN
18/11/09 The World Health
Organisation has now recorded 45 cases of Tamiflu-resistant
swine flu around the globe with two such cases being from the
Lothians area and another is believed to come from Fife,
Scotland. Professor Hugh
Pennington, of Aberdeen University, pointed out that an
alternative drug called Relenza was also available to treat
swine flu. Health Secretary
Nicola Sturgeon said A poll by health magazine Pulse of 107 GPs found that high-risk patients – those with conditions such as heart disease, diabetes or who are pregnant - are refusing the swine flu jab because they fear it is neither safe nor necessary. Letters calling them
in for the inoculation are being ignored - with less than 50
per cent of those offered the jab presenting themselves to be
inoculated. 16/11/09 _____________________________ A "half-term
effect" could be the reason for the number of new swine
flu cases in the past week falling by nearly a quarter to
64,000 in England. 13/11/09 A small
number of staff at the Borders hospital have have phoned in
sick as unable to work after reacting badly following
vaccination against both swine flu and seasonal
flu at the same time. 07/11/09 The latest deaths brings the total of those who have died after testing positive for the disease in the region to 19. The number of sufferers admitted to hospital this week was 203 compared with 146 last week and 95 inpatients with swine flu were being treated in hospital as of Wednesday, according to the West Midlands Strategic Health Authority.
27/10/09 The number of new cases
reported in England over the past week has nearly doubled to
53,000. In Scotland, there was a slight rise to 14,650. "If current trends continue we are going to have to surge capacity. My message now is that the NHS must be ready." Ian Dalton, head of flu planning at the NHS. It is the rate of admission to these specialist beds which is causing particular concern - now at a rate of one in five admissions, compared with one on ten during the summer. Sir Liam Donaldson, the
government's chief medical officer, said he is "mystified"
by the pattern emerging on intensive care wards. Latest estimates suggest there could be another 35,000 admissions in the coming months - more than 5,000 of which could require intensive care support, although the latest "worst-case scenario" for total deaths over the winter has been reduced radically, from 19,000 to 1,000. 24/10/09 TWO doses of 'PANDEMRIX' - the GloxoSmithKline jab, is their recommendation - for all those in high-risk groups / and those outside 18-60 yrs of age. For Baxter's 'CLEVAPAN' their
advice remains 2 doses at a three week interval.
21/10/09 Next week GPs will start to invite
patients for immunisation. How will it be administered ? There will be two vaccines used in the
UK - one made by GlaxoSmithKline and the other by Baxter. The GSK jab is grown inside eggs and, at present, the Baxter version is being reserved for those who have egg allergies - who will need two doses three weeks apart. Is it safe? The official regulator, the European Medicines Agency, which licenses new treatments has concluded that both jabs are safe and effective following trials involving thousands of people. Are there Side-effects ? The most common side-effects are minor
ones, such as headaches, joint pain, muscle pain, fever and
fatigue. 17/10/09 Deaths from the H1N1 virus have reached the epidemic threshold and have even climbed above epidemic levels in some states, with swine flu widespread in 41 of them. So only 28-30 million doses would be available by the end of the month, down from an earlier estimate of 40 million, said Anne Schuchat of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Swine flu has had an especially strong impact on children, 86 of whom have died this year, half of which were between 12 and 17- numbers greater than would normally be expected to die in an entire flu season ! "These are very sobering statistics. Some of these children have been totally healthy." (Ms. Schuchat). This coincides with an early
on-set of severe winter weather in the Eastern sea-board
states. Giving paracetamol to babies after
vaccinations as a precaution against fever may lower the effectiveness of
the immunisation, says a Lancet publication of Czech research.
"Giving paracetamol before or
after vaccines is not to be encouraged because firstly it has little
benefit and secondly this preliminary data suggests it may do harm."
Dr David Elliman, Great Ormond Street
Hospital
16/10/09 GPs will start calling patients in the week after until 13 million people in the priority groups are vaccinated. 14/10/09 The much predicted second wave has begun but so far the increase in cases in England and Wales is much slower than predicted; they remain very high in Northern Ireland, whereas in Scotland, cases actually fell.
Sir Liam Donaldson said: 04/10/09 The trial began on Saturday, involving children (aged between six months and 12 yrs-of-age) in Oxford, Southampton, London, Bristol and Devon, receiving two doses of the vaccine, three weeks apart, followed by a blood test three weeks later. Consenting parents are being briefed on the risks. Participation in the scheme is voluntary. Scientists have enough older children taking part in the study but have appealed for more children under the age of three to take part. "This weekend we
are trying to enroll around 200 children ... which we think is
the largest number of people ever to be enrolled in a clinical
trial in such a short space of time in the UK. Adam Finn, professor of
paediatrics at Bristol University, has previously said that
evidence of the effects on children was urgently needed. Millions of doses of the vaccines have been purchased for use across the UK and the Department of Health estimate they will have enough vaccine for half the population by the end of the year. 25/09/09 “ Everything suggests we are seeing
the start of the second peak, but we just don't know how big that will
be ” These levels are below those of seasonal flu that could be expected during a bad winter. 18/09/09 The health department estimates that 6,180 people in Scotland contracted swine flu last week, compared to 3,336 in the previous week: and a woman from the Lothians has become the ninth swine flu patient to die in Scotland "While this tragic death shows
that in some cases the H1N1 virus can cause complications, I would like
to stress that the majority of people contracting H1N1 are continuing to
experience mild symptoms." - Health Secretary Nicola
Sturgeon. "The potential threat from
H1N1 remains serious, even if it continues to be a relatively mild
virus. A total of 143 people with "significant" underlying health conditions had been taken to hospital with swine flu since the start of the outbreak. 06/09/09
“ We want the NHS to plan for a worst
case scenario ”
Professor Sir Liam Donaldson 02/09/09 Health Secretary Andy Burnham's "guess-timate" of some 100,000 cases - every day - by the end of August now seems a 'little' off-track .. as reports of just 700 new cases per day are authenticated. Which is BAD NEWS for ANDY .. but GOOD NEWS for those who aren't feeling ill. 28/08/09
25/08/09 Research by a University of Oxford team,
published in the British Medical Journal, casts doubt on the policy of
giving antiviral drugs to children for swine flu having shown that it
rarely prevents complications in children with seasonal flu, yet
carries side effects. Antivirals are the mainstay of treatment at the
moment & are designed to ensure that symptoms are mild and reduce
the chance of an infected person giving the illness to someone else. There were an estimated 30,000 new cases
of swine flu in England in the last week - a drop compared with the
110,000 cases the week before - and a decrease also in Scotland and
Wales. “Our research is
finding for most children these antiviral drugs are probably not going
to have much of an effect ” GP Dr. Carl Heneghan, a clinical lecturer at Oxford University and a Co-researcher, said the current policy of giving Tamiflu for mild illness was an "..inappropriate strategy. The downside of the harms outweigh the one-day reduction in symptomatic benefits." Flu expert Professor Hugh Pennington said "Tamiflu has a place but it's not a wonder cure." but was not surprised by the report, which underlined what was already known about Tamiflu. 22/08/09 17/08/09 The British Medical Association has asked for extra funds to administer the two-shot jab - all of which is extra work, over and above their normal surgery work. Doctors are paid £7.51 for each seasonal flu vaccine and other jabs, such as travel inoculations but have argued in talks that they need extra money to cover staffing and administration costs and the overtime they may need to do. They have also asked for their bonus payments to be protected if work such as blood pressure checks is affected. About a fifth of the UK population - this amounts to more than 13 million - will be immunised (people with health conditions, such as heart disease and diabetes, pregnant women, those with weakened immune systems and frontline health and social care workers will be the first to receive the jab.) “ Talks with the
government remain ongoing and we are hopeful that these discussions will
conclude shortly. Currently, the health service is working well in
response to this enormous challenge and all doctors will continue to
work hard on behalf of all their patients." 31/07/09 In the first seven days of England's swine flu helpline - a telephone and web-based helpline service designed to relieve pressures on the NHS and GPs, 150,000 people were given tamiflu; with more than half of children prescribed Tamiflu suffer side-effects such as nausea and insomnia (a "high proportion" of British schoolchildren reporting problems after taking oseltamivir (Tamiflu) medication).
Figures suggest higher rates than previously in some areas of the North West and South West. Overall, around one in every 150 people in England has had swine flu so far and there have been 31 deaths - this figure being higher in younger age groups (1 in 90 under ones and 1 in 77 one-to-four year-olds infected since the start of the pandemic). , the National Director for NHS Flu Resilience, said he was working with the 10 Strategic Health Authorities to produce an updated critical care plan by the end of August. "It will set out the action that has to be taken in order to increase critical care capacity. I would like to reassure people that this will build on a lot of previous planning." 22/07/09 A national flu service will be launched
later this week in England to relieve the pressure on the health
service. The phone and website service will only relieve pressure on the NHS through being staffed
by NON-MEDICAL personnel - who, like all staff in a call centre, will
'talk' to you via a 'crib-sheet' of questions. Answer the questions 'correctly', and you will be
allocated a number. Your 'Flu-Friend' is expected to take this number to one of the NINE pharmacies in Worcestershire that will prescribe the medication .. provided that your 'friend' has remembered to take with them Identification Documents for both themselves AND YOU. Otherwise, they will have to come all the
way back home (that's their home AND your home) before returning WITH
the paperwork. The service will not cover Scotland,
Wales or Northern Ireland. Vaccines for swine flu will arrive in the UK by the end of August, although it is not clear when vaccination might start - because of the need for testing and licensing. The government has warned that the number of deaths from the virus this winter in the UK could reach between 19,000 and 65,000 but stress these are worst-case scenarios - compared to the average12,000 seasonal flu deaths. 17/07/09 15/07/09 14/07/09 Research by the University of Wisconsin (published in the journal Nature) suggests that the swine flu virus attacks the respiratory system in a more sustained way than the standard seasonal flu virus. 11/07/09 Virology expert Professor John Oxford, of
Queen Mary's College of Medicine in London, said, Epidemic levels 10/07/09 This follows confirmed cases at Bromsgrove, Worcester and Malvern. Headteachers confirmed that, in line with Stage Three HPA regulations, their schools would remain open, while issuing guidelines on hygiene. 08/07/09 Five times the number of people
who usually get seasonal flu each year will suffer from Swine Flu, it is
predicted - about 250,000 Worcestershire residents. Advice is that anyone with flu symptoms
should stay at home and telephone NHS Direct or their GP - where a
designated 'Flu Doctor' will have been selected from the practice
staff. Swine flu is a respiratory illness caused
by the type A flu (H1N1) virus. Transmission of this new virus is thought to occur in the same way as seasonal flu. The infection can be effectively treated with antiviral medication. Most reported cases in the UK have been mild and people have recovered fully after treatment. The UK has now moved to a treatment
phase to manage the current pandemic flu outbreak. Health protection advice General hygiene can help to reduce transmission of all viruses, including the swine flu virus. This includes:
2 July 2009 Government's announcement yesterday (July 02 2009) that the UK is moving to a new phase in the response to the current pandemic flu virus means there will be a change to the surveillance information that the Health Protection Agency will be able to provide to the media in future. The Agency has been carrying out laboratory testing of suspected cases of pandemic flu (H1N1v) since the outbreak came to light in April. The Agency's daily update has been based, since then, on the number of positive test results being confirmed through the Centre for Infections and the Agency's regional network of laboratories. The new policy moves from measures to try and contain the pandemic flu virus to focussing on providing appropriate treatment to people with H1N1v flu. This means that, nationally, clinicians will now rely on patients' symptoms rather than laboratory tests to diagnose illness. Although we will continue to test a proportion of patients to ensure we keep getting up to date information about the virus, the daily reporting of laboratory confirmations will no longer be an accurate way to record the spread of infection, as it will not include the vast majority of cases. The HPA will, therefore, no longer be providing a daily update of the numbers of cases confirmed through laboratory tests. Dr Simon Tanner (NHS London) said London has seen a "spike" in flu cases in the past week, being the second-worst affected area in the UK, with more than 1,900 cases. A 19-year-old man from south London, with serious underlying health problems, has died after contracting swine flu - the fourth person with swine flu to die in the UK. The government's Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, has warned the public
Experts warn that the number of cases in the UK could rise to 100,000 a day by the end of next month.
Interesting Statistics How Swine Flu affects the Population
Some cases are 'Age Unassigned' .. Mexico groups into different age bands In 'attacking' younger people H1N1 imitates it's WW1 'cousin' - as well as finding their life-styles more conducive to spread. “There is concern that the
virus might mutate in the southern hemisphere over their winter and
become more virulent, but there's no sign of that yet. "These flu viruses can
change their pattern of attack, so when we come into the flu season in
the autumn and winter in this country, when we expect a big surge of
cases, we need to watch very carefully to see if the character of the
virus is changing." Flu expert Professor John Oxford: LEVEL SIX The World Health Organization (WHO), in an emergency meeting in Geneva, has declared a global flu pandemic .. “It is global and fulfilling the
requirements of a pandemic.” .. even though the current pandemic seems
to be moderate and causing mild illness in most people. Official reports say there have been
28,000 cases globally and 141 deaths and figures are rising daily. While the number of cases has made the declaration inevitable, the problem WHO face is that the pandemic "phase system" is designed for a very different type of virus - such as the deadlier 'bird flu'. It was believed that the next pandemic would be something like H5N1 bird flu, where you were seeing really high death rates, and so there were people who believed we might be in a kind of apocalyptic situation and what we're really seeing now with H1N1 is that in most cases the disease is self-limiting. There have been more than 800 cases in the UK with some areas of Scotland being particularly hard hit. The government has been stockpiling antivirals such as Tamiflu and has ordered vaccine, some doses of which could be available by October. 27/06/09 Meanwhile, experts have reported the
first case of swine flu that they believe is resistant
to Tamiflu. 27/06/09
26/06/09 24/06/09 The Federation of Small Businesses is warning that too few companies are making contingency plans against the possible spread of swine flu this autumn, and is meeting Government officials to discuss what measures firms need to take. 23/06/09 21/06/09 18/06/09 Containment Policy: all people who
may potentially have come into contact with an infected individual are
offered anti-viral drugs in order to isolate the virus and allow no
opportunity for it to spread. The outbreak at Welford Primary School,
Handsworth, Birmingham (which shut in May with nearly 200 people
connected to the school diagnosed with the virus) is at the heart of the
epidemic and Dr Sue Ibbotson, of the Health Protection Agency, said it
was not surprising cases had spread to other schools in the area. It is
understood that 34 of the city's schools have been affected by the
virus. Welford Primary School has now reopened. Ocean Dream is managed by Spanish tour operator Pullmantur and their Holding Company, the Miami-based "Royal Caribbean", offered no comment. "The virus was detected in three
crew members and the boat must now stay in quarantine until June
24." 16/06/09 Holte Visual and Performing Arts College
in Lozells joins St James' CE Primary in Handsworth,
Anglesey Primary in Lozells, and Birchfield Primary in Aston on the
Birmingham schools closure list. This brings the number of people infected with swine flu in the West Midlands to 388, a rise of 34, making the region the worst affected in England. 15/06/09 Since the virus enter the country with Scottish tourists, that part of the country is some weeks ahead of the rest of the UK in the spread of the virus. Virologist Professor John Oxford said "I still think the chances of picking up the virus are remote. It is not going to get any worse during the summer." A further 172 patients have been confirmed with swine flu in the UK, bringing the total infected to 1,164. There are now 12 cases at Malvern
College, including at least one involving a member of staff (NHS
Worcestershire) giving the region 354 confirmed cases out of the 752 in
England. Nunnery Wood High School in Worcester, where a case was confirmed previously, is open. The West Midlands region has 39 of the 61 latest confirmed cases of swine flu across England. 13/06/09 Lydgate Junior School, Sheffield,
announced on Friday that it would be closed next week following A
further six cases of swine flu after the first pupil's diagnosis. 12/06/09 In a Commons statement, Health Secretary Andy
Burnham said 28 more people had been admitted to hospital and that
most of those had made a full recovery. The UK has enough anti-viral drugs for 50% of the population and has plans to raise that figure to 80%. 11/06/09 10/06/09 07/06/09 A soldier and three of his close colleagues have been confirmed with swine flu at the British army's biggest base, Catterick Garrison in North Yorkshire. "In the United States, they think for every case they know about, every confirmed case, there are 20 other cases out there in the community. I don't think we're anywhere near that, but I think it would be very reasonable to say we've got at least twice as many cases as we know about, and it may be more than that." Worldwide there have been 19,315 confirmed swine flu cases in 66 countries, with 117 deaths - all in Mexico and the US. 03/06/09 Toward School, near Dunoon, which
has 25 pupils, was closed after a primary six pupil tested positive for
the virus. The Appletree private nursery school in Rothesay has
also been closed and its 40 pupils treated with antiviral drugs. 31/05/09 A 31-year-old man from Cærphilly has been confirmed as the first case of swine flu in Wales, according to health chiefs Meanwhile, in Mexico City, all
restrictions imposed last month, following an outbreak of swine flu
across Mexico, have been lifted 30/05/09 28/05/09 27/05/09 The number of cases is expected to rise in what is the single largest outbreak of the virus in the UK. The West Midlands now has 57 of the 184 confirmed UK cases.. ______ And in Scotland, a 37-year-old man, from Glasgow, who was admitted to the intensive care unit of the Victoria Infirmary last Thursday, is confirmed as critically ill. It is a "highly probable" case of swine flu. Admitted with a chest infection but routinely tested for a range of viruses, there was no evidence he had contact with any known case of swine flu and had no history of recent travel. 22/05/09 Meanwhile three members of one family in Scotland have become probable H1N1 cases, after holidaying in Florida. Globally more than 11,000 people have
been diagnosed in 41 countries, the World Health Organization has
reported. There have been 85 deaths. Swine Flu .. What to Do Catch it*, Bin it, Kill it! Dr Richard Harling, Director of Public Health for Worcestershire, says: "Obviously we
are concerned about the possibility of an influenza pandemic and
we are making sure that our plans are in place should we need
them.
People
who develop symptoms
- should STAY AT HOME - and contact NHS Direct on 08 45 46 47. We will then make arrangements to come and assess them and provide treatment, if necessary. They
are asked not to go to their GP * THEY
MEAN CATCH THE BUGS .. IN A TISSUE .. Remember,
Flu 'bugs' can live on surfaces for several hours .. Health Protection Agency website The team from Imperial College, London,
working in collaboration with the World Health Organisation and public
health agencies in Mexico, have reported(*) that it was too early to
say, definitively, whether the present virus will cause deaths on a
massive scale, or prove little more lethal than normal seasonal flu. Projections suggest swine flu has "full pandemic potential", spreading readily between people, and is likely to go global in the next six to nine months, when up to a third of the world's population could be infected. Current statistics are that the number of laboratory-confirmed swine flu cases has reached 5,251 - across some 30 countries in the world. So far, some 61 people have died from the disease. Professor Ferguson expects a "really major epidemic" - with its full impact on the UK not likely to be known until the annual flu season in the autumn and winter. "This virus really does
have full pandemic potential.
"We really need to be
prepared, particularly for the autumn. (* Published in the journal 'Science')
Reactions across the world vary:
[Remember, it was custom and practice (within living memory .. i.e. before fridges and freezers) for Worcestershire folk not to eat Pork if there was no 'R' in the month as a precaution against 'off' meat (viz. May through to September)_Ed] Mexico restricts movement Mexico is beginning a five-day shutdown, covering two public holidays and a weekend, of parts of its economy, in a bid to slow the spread of swine flu.
Swine Flu 'Pandemic' Four more cases are
under investigation in Worcestershire. Two adults - a woman from
Redditch, Worcs, and a 22 yr. old man from Barnet, south London - are undergoing
treatment (at home) following their return from Mexico. In addition, a
12-year-old girl from Paignton Community College in Devon, is also
confirmed as having contracted swine flu after visiting Mexico. The
girl's school has shut and pupils will be offered anti-viral drugs. The UN's World Health Organisation Director-General Keiji Fukuda has said that the deadly swine flu virus first detected in Mexico can no longer be contained within that country - and may spread across the globe. After an emergency meeting of experts, brought forward by a day because of concerns over the outbreak, WHO has raised its alert level from three to four (two steps short of declaring a full pandemic) and said that countries should now focus on mitigating the effects of the virus. Though only 20 cases are as yet confirmed,
the number of probable deaths from the virus in Mexico has officially
risen to 152. SWINE FLU Iain and Dawn Askham, of Polmont, near
Falkirk, who fell ill following their return from honeymoon in Cancun,
were described on Monday as not being particularly ill - while receiving
treatment in Lanarkshire. WHO PANDEMIC ALERT PHASES Phase 1: No viruses circulating among animals causing infections in humans Phase 2: Animal influenza virus causes infection in humans, and is considered potential pandemic threat Phase 3: Influenza causes sporadic cases in people, but no significant human-to-human transmission Phase
4: Verified human-to-human transmission able to cause community-level
outbreaks. Significant increase in risk of a pandemic Phase 5: Human-to-human transmission in at least two countries. Strong signal pandemic imminent Phase 6: Virus spreads to another country in a different region. Global pandemic under way "What this can really be
interpreted as is a significant step towards pandemic influenza. But
also, it is a phase that says we are not there yet," Mr
Fukuda said. Professor Steve Field, chairman of the Royal College of Physicians, has commented that people in the UK were "perfectly safe at the moment", and did not need to start wearing facemasks or stop eating pork. "I don't think people in this
country need to be worried at the moment; the focus needs to be on
people coming in from Mexico and other areas where this infection has
taken hold." TRAVEL ADVICE The UK Foreign Office is advising against all but essential travel to Mexico. Britons visiting or resident in Mexico are being advised to consider leaving. The department has suspended routine
consular and visa services at the Mexico City embassy and issued a
statement saying, Shares in airlines have fallen sharply on
fears about the economic impact of the outbreak. The 1918-19 flu pandemic (commonly referred to as the Spanish flu) was one that spread to nearly every part of the world. It was caused by an unusually virulent and deadly 'Influenza A' virus strain of subtype H1N1. Lasting just 9 months, it is estimated that anywhere from 20 to 100 million people were killed worldwide, or the approximate equivalent of one third of the population of Europe; more than double the number killed in World War One. This pandemic has been described as "the greatest medical holocaust in history" and may have killed more people than the Black Death. © Independent
Kidderminster Hospital & Health Concern 1995-2008 |
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