Rhiza Labs FluTracker Forum

12:44 GMT, Thursday, 12 November 2009
Another swine flu death announced
Another person in Northern Ireland who had tested positive for swine flu has died, the Department of Health has said.

So far 13 people from Northern Ireland have died after contracting the virus.
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There has been a 9% decrease in the consultation rates from GPs over the past week and a drop in the number of people in hospital with the virus.
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Chief Medical Officer Dr Michael McBride said while the decreases were encouraging, vigilance was still needed.

"While figures are encouraging, we should be mindful of countries like the Ukraine which are experiencing high levels of swine flu related hospitalisations and deaths," he said.
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The health authorities have confirmed that a pregnant woman has died from swine flu.

In addition, a child has also died from the H1N1 virus, bringing the number of swine flu deaths in the 26 counties to 16.

The pregnant women who died was from the east of the country and did not have an underlying illness, although pregnancy is regarded as an at-risk category for swine flu.


Pregnant women with the virus are four times more likely to develop serious complications or to be hospitalised than non-pregnant women.

There are currently 191 people in hospital with the virus, with 22 in intensive care, the latest briefing from the Department of Health and the HSE was told this afternoon.

The number of people infected with the virus in the past week is slightly down on the figure of 30,000 for the previous week.

Another Death From Swine Flu

While another person in Northern Ireland who had tested positive for swine flu has died, the Department of Health has said, consultations with family doctors in NI over suspected swine flu are slowing.

The Department of Health revealed the news as it published a new flu bulletin for Northern Ireland.
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A spokesman said: "We have been notified of the death of an adult with underlying health conditions who has tested positive for swine flu, bringing the total number of swine flu related deaths to 11."

That means 13 NI people have now died, as two people from here contracted the virus while away, and then died elsewhere.
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Man with swine flu dies
26/11/2009 - 17:27:45

There has been another death here connected to swine flu.

The man - who died in the south of the country - had an underlying health condition.

His death brings to 17 the number of people in Ireland who have died after picking up the virus.

Overall the number of new cases here continues to fall, although increases in cases in children have been reported in the past few weeks.

Victim caught swine flu in hospital
EITHNE DONNELLAN
Dec 14, 2009

ONE OF the 20 people who have died from swine flu in the State is believed to have contracted the virus in hospital. The Health Service Executive confirmed yesterday that it “strongly suspected” the swine flu contracted by one of those who died from the pandemic virus was hospital-acquired.

“It’s not always possible to determine with exact accuracy or precision where a patient may have contracted the virus. However, one patient who has died is strongly suspected to have contracted the virus in a hospital setting,” the HSE’s spokeswoman said.

Asked if the deceased patient’s family were informed of this, the HSE spokeswoman could not say. She added, however, that “it would be usual practice to tell the family”.

The news comes just days after The Irish Times revealed several patients had picked up swine flu in Irish hospitals during the current pandemic.

The HSE said 2 per cent of swine flu cases treated in hospital were reported to be hospital-acquired. With 1,003 patients having been treated in hospital for swine flu, that’s the equivalent of about 20 patients picking up the virus in hospital so far.

Pat Doorley, HSE national director of population health, said the 2 per cent represented “a relatively small number”.

He said that while there was no published data on the level of in-hospital transmission of swine flu internationally, there is “anecdotal evidence to suggest that there have been some episodes of hospital-acquired infections in other countries also”.

The failure to follow proper infection control procedures including hand-washing by staff and visitors; having inadequate isolation facilities; and hospital overcrowding have been blamed in the past for contributing to many patients picking up other hospital-acquired infections such as MRSA.

The same reasons are likely to have caused patients to have picked up swine flu in hospital in recent weeks. The HSE said infection control measures are implemented in all hospitals to minimise in-hospital transmission of the pandemic virus.

“The HSE policy on healthcare-associated infection advises that patients should be notified if they acquire an infection while in hospital. We have been putting this message out strongly through the hospital system in recent years,” it said.

Reacting to the news that a person with the H1N1 virus had died after it was more than likely picked up in hospital, Dr Teresa Graham of the Stop Infections Now Campaign said she was not surprised.

“Judging by the Irish record on infection prevention and control in hospitals, I would have expected this. I’m not one bit surprised that this has happened,” she said.

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The latest people to die from swine flu were two men with underlying illnesses, one from the east and the other from the south of the country, bringing the total deaths to 20.

Health officials say there has been a marked decline in the spread of the virus in the past week, down to 5,500 new cases compared to 10,500 the previous week.

Swine flu kills girl and adult woman
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Two more people have died from swine flu -- a young girl and a woman -- bringing the number of deaths in Ireland to 22.
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The latest victims, a woman from the east of the country and a girl from the west, had underlying health problems, which have been a feature in all but one of the deaths so far.
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There are still 152 people being treated in hospital for the condition and nine of these are in intensive care.

In Northern Ireland, a child (9) has died from the virus. The child had underlying health conditions and died within the past few days.
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