Rhiza Labs FluTracker Forum

The Ministry of Health is warning there are only a small number of vaccines left, as the number of swine flu cases across the country increases.

In the last week alone 59 people have been admitted to hospital, with areas around the top of the North Island worst hit.

This week Northland DHB reported the death of a 51-year-old man was linked to the H1N1 virus, the second in New Zealand this year.

Auckland Hospital says it's dealing with a number of patients with flu like symptoms but insist the number of cases is vastly reduced from last winter.

Three pregnant women with swine flu have been hospitalised in Northland this season, and health professionals are being warned that expectant mothers are at increased risk of severe illness from the virus.

Northland's medical officer of health Jonathan Jarman said he was concerned that the region's only confirmed hospitalised cases of the H1N1 influenza strain were the three pregnant women in July.

Pregnant women who experience flu-like symptoms should immediately contact their doctors for advice, Dr Jarman said.

For most people, swine flu was not severe and the illness was already widespread in Northland, he said.

"There are a lot more cases in the community than we will ever know about ... but I am concerned that, at the start of the flu season, all the [hospitalised] cases have been pregnant women."

He has sent an alert to all Northland health professionals warning them of an increased risk that expectant mothers with swine flu could become seriously ill.

Women's immune systems were lowered during pregnancy, leaving them more susceptible to infectious illnesses of all kinds, Dr Jarman said.

The Northland situation backs up Australian, New Zealand and United States studies that indicate pregnancy increases the risk of a serious flu episode.

Compared with non-pregnant women of the same age, expectant mothers had a 7 per cent higher chance of becoming severely ill with swine flu.

Of that group, 13 per cent were likely to become ill in the second half of the pregnancy.

"The message we need to get out to everybody is that there are still free vaccinations available and it's not too late to be vaccinated for seasonal flu. We especially recommend it for those who are at risk," Dr Jarman said.

Pregnant women join the ranks of the severely overweight, the very young and people with underlying health problems as being at considerable risk.

"If you're in one of those groups and feel unwell, see the doctor," Dr Jarman said.

The flu virus "did not appear" to harm an unborn baby, he said.

"We normally don't recommend vaccinations in pregnancy, although there is plenty of evidence that they have been given to expectant mothers with no harmful effect."

The period for which people in the at-risk group can receive a free vaccination had been extended and there were still supplies available, he said.

In the meantime, effective ways people could avoid the illness and slow its spread were to be stringent about hand hygiene, to cover coughs and sneezes, and stay home if they were unwell.

A 51-year-old man who died suddenly in July also had swine flu, but the coroner has yet to rule on the cause of death.

The man had not been hospitalised before he died and was tested for swine flu only after his death.

Laboratory testing for H1N1 is not done in Northland and takes about a week.

Although Maori rates of swine flu seem lower than last year, the Ministry of Health is still warning people to prepare for a second wave.

Public health director Mark Jacobs says there's been a spike in the number of cases of the pandemic strain in the past couple of weeks, with more than 380 confirmed cases and 183 hospital admissions nation-wide.

He says it seems to be hitting people in the 25 - 44 age range, but it appears Maori rates of the illness seem lower than last year.

Mr Jacobs says people at high risk should try to get immunised this week and should also be vigilant about hand washing.

There's been a sharp rise in cases of swine flu and the Health Ministry is expecting it to get worse.

Director of Public Health Dr Mark Jacobs says the country is in a second wave of a pandemic.

"There are just over 400 confirmed cases around the country and just under 200 people in hospital and those numbers are continuing to increase and it's still probably reasonably early days with this second wave."

Dr Jacobs says the swine flu has claimed two lives so far this year.

Wairarapa's pandemic action plan has been activated as hundreds more people are caught up in the swine flu outbreak sweeping through the community.

More than 400 children are sick and health chiefs say the highly contagious virus is only just beginning to spread.

A decision was made late yesterday not to close any schools at this stage, but the situation was being monitored, health chiefs said.

Wellington Regional Public Health Unit confirmed yesterday that the outbreak is the swine flu H1N1 virus.

Swine flu is also sweeping through communities in other parts of the country including Palmerston North, Whanganui, Marlborough and Waikato.

Waikato District Health Board, which has also activated its pandemic action plan, says its hospital is being swamped by cases.

On Monday, 60 children suffering from influenza symptoms were seen in the emergency department and 16 of those were admitted to hospital.

Wairarapa District Health Board has put its staff on high alert and has stepped up isolation procedures at Wairarapa Hospital to try to contain any spread.

Spokeswoman Jill Stringer said a team had been put in place to manage communication and control programmes. Large containers of sterilising hand gels have been stockpiled at all entrances to the hospital. Visitors and staff are being made to wash their hands before entering and leaving the hospital.

"We know that the peak of this flu could be another two weeks away. Just how fast it will spread and who will be hit next is why we have to have our pandemic plan operating to manage any surprises. Who knows what is around the corner," Mrs Stringer said.

The Health Ministry said what was being seen with swine flu cases in Wairarapa and in areas such as Palmerston North, Marlborough and Waikato was the second wave of the pandemic.

Director of public health Mark Jacobs said the areas hardest hit so far and others likely to be affected in the next week as the influenza spread were regions that escaped relatively lightly during last year's outbreak.

Wellington was likely to escape the ravages of the fresh outbreak given the high numbers infected last year, Dr Jacobs said. So far this year there had been more than 400 confirmed cases of swine flu and just under 200 hospital admissions, but those figures of the less severe cases did not reflect the true spread of the virus, he said. Two people had died.

A study by Environmental Science and Research estimated that 1.26 million New Zealanders were already immune to swine flu from exposure last season.

The Ministry of Health says regions that avoided swine flu last year are likely to be worst hit this winter.

Updated figures are due to be issued on Thursday, but the ministry says there has been a marked increase in flu-like and other respiratory illnesses among patients.

Public Health Director Mark Jacobs says the Bay of Plenty, Lakes and Taranaki District Health Boards had lower rates last year and are already reporting more hospitalisations.

As of last week 158 people have been admitted to hospital this year with the H1N1 influenza and two people have died.

Dr Jacobs encourages people to get a flu injection and says there are still 15,500 doses of seasonal vaccine left.

19 people in the Bay of Plenty have are confirmed to have H1N1 (Swine Flu), according to Bay of Plenty District Health Board medical officer of health Dr Neil De Wet.
"The rates of influenza in the community has increased, but not as high as it was last year," says Neil.
........................continued

Suspected swine flu is the reason 58 people have been admitted to hospital this week. It brings the total to 222 admitted this year.

The Ministry of Health says the number of calls to Healthline also continues to increase, and last week 22.4% of all calls were related to influenza-like illness.

That is the highest rate seen this year, but it is still well below the 35.8% seen at this time last year.

A man is seriously ill with swine flu in Wellington Hospital's intensive care unit as a second wave of the virus rolls in.

The man, who is in his late 30s and has underlying health problems, was the first swine flu patient to be admitted to the unit since last year, when the virus swept the country. Eight people were admitted to Wellington Hospital then and three patients died.

The man is one of 58 people admitted to hospitals around the country this week alone.

The hardest-hit areas were those that avoided the worst of last year's pandemic, with Rotorua, Bay of Plenty and Taranaki districts all reporting higher levels of swine flu than they experienced last year.

Hundreds of doses of flu vaccinations and Tamiflu supplies have been sent to Wairarapa, where a pandemic plan was activated on Wednesday. The outbreak has now hit 18 schools and affected more than 1200 children.

Wairarapa District Health Board said 18 of the area's 40 schools or training facilities now had 15 per cent or more of their pupils off sick. The worst-affected school, St Theresa's in Featherston, has just 60 pupils still at school from its roll of 134. Authorities were preparing to shut the region's schools next week if swine flu continued to spread.

Dozens of people suffering severe flu symptoms flocked to Wairarapa Hospital's emergency department in Masterton yesterday. More than 100 people a day are now cramming into doctors' rooms to seek urgent care and advice.

No-one has yet been admitted to hospital but Wairarapa District Health Board spokeswoman Jill Stringer said hospital staff were bracing themselves. "We know we are a long way from the peak yet ... [but] we are gearing up the hospital just in case."

However, Mark Jacobs, the Health Ministry's director of public health, said it was likely other parts of the country, including Wellington, Hutt Valley and Gisborne, would not be badly affected. High levels of swine flu in those regions last year meant many people had gained immunity to the virus.