http://www.irishhealth.com/article.html?id=16339Swine flu gathers pace[Posted: Tue 27/10/2009 by Niall Hunter, Editor]
The swine flu outbreak is intensifying in Ireland, with the number of cases almost doubling since last week and an increase also reported in deaths and hospitalisations.Hospitals are now on alert to prepare to deal with an upsurge of swine flu cases.
In the meantime, the vaccination programme, for at-risk groups first, will officially begin shorly, and some GPs are already starting to administer the vaccine to under 65s with chronic illness, as they receive sufficient batches.
Five more people have now died of swine flu in recent days in the Republic, it has been announced, bringing to nine the number of people who have died of the virus. The latest death was of a 14-year-old boy.All the people who died recently had underlying medical conditions.
We are likely to see a further escalation in swine flu cases in the coming weeks, in addition to more hospitalisations, and unfortunately, more deaths.
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Ten people from Northern Ireland have died from the swine flu virus; eight of those lived in the North, and two were from the North but lived elsewhere.
For more information on swine flu see
www.swineflu.ieThe current surge in H1N1 incidence was expected. Flu pandemics usually come in waves, and this is likely to be the first of a number of waves in this particular pandemic.
While we are still far away from and indeed may never reach, the "worst case scenario" of 25% of the population being infected, and the health authorities are reassuring us that the vast majority of swine flu cases are mild, public concern is understandably starting to increase.
The new deaths have occurred as the number of cases reported by GPs has risen dramatically, and there has been an especially dramatic increase among children.
The overall infection rate is now 158.8 per 100,000, up by 61 per 100,000 on last week's reported rate. However, in children under five, the rate is now 239 per 100,000, compared to only 86.1 per 100,000 previously reported.
In children five to 14, the rate is higher, at 448.5 per 100,000, compared to the previous rate of 170.
Announcing the figures, Dr Colette Bonner, Deputy Chief Medical Officer at the Department of Health, said as it was still only October, the rate of swine flu infection was likely to increase further.
However, she said the latest figures should be kept in perspective, as H1N1 infection was a mild illness in the vast majority of cases.
Signs that the expected significant increase in swine flu cases was starting became evident yesterday, when two children's hospitals in Dublin announced they were curtailing admissions and restricting visiting as a result of the large number of suspected cases presenting to them.
It is now expected that an increasing number of hospitals will start to cut back on non-emergency admissions, as the rate of infection accelerates.
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