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The number of new swine flu cases in Ireland is rising significantly again.

Latest figures from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) show that at 91, the number of confirmed cases of the H1N1 virus last week was three times higher than the number the previous week.

The number of people presenting at GPs with flu-like symptoms has risen tenfold since November.

The HPSC says that swine flu has made up almost 90% of the 120 confirmed cases of influenza so far this season.

34 of the swine flu cases required hospitalisation, while five people required treatment in Intensive Care.

The HPSC says the overall number of flu cases is above baseline levels, with the highest rates per population size reported among 0-4 year-olds and 5-14 year-olds.

19 of the confirmed cases of flu were among pregnant women, and 18 of those had swine flu.

Seven pregnant women with swine flu required hospitalisation.

During the last flu season, 24 people with H1N1 died.

The HSE has urged anyone who has not already received the seasonal flu vaccine, which protects against the H1N1 strain, to get it.

It has particularly urged pregnant women or those who have recently been pregnant, those with long-term medical conditions, people aged over 65, carers, and healthcare workers, to consider getting vaccinated.

ADDITIONAL STOCKS of the seasonal flu vaccine, which this year includes protection against the swine flu virus, have been ordered by the Health Service Executive, it was confirmed yesterday.

Dr Kevin Kelleher, head of health protection with the HSE, said about 650,000 doses of the seasonal flu vaccine had been delivered in September and most of it had now been used up. About 30,000 further doses of the vaccine have been ordered and these are “in the course of being delivered”, he said.

He denied there was any shortage of seasonal flu vaccine. If GPs ran out of it they could order more, he said.

Meanwhile, people have been urged to go to their GP rather than turning up at hospital emergency departments with flu-like symptoms. The pressure on the emergency department of Galway’s University College Hospital was so intense yesterday that about 25 patients due to have elective surgery today have had their operations postponed.

Cases of influenza-like illness and swine flu have been increasing in recent weeks. During Christmas week some 91 cases of the H1N1 virus were detected by the national virus reference laboratory which was more than double the number detected the previous week.

A total of 36 people were hospitalised with swine flu up to December 30th and five patients had to be admitted to intensive care. There was also an outbreak of swine flu at Dublin’s Rotunda Hospital before Christmas as well as one in a school. Dr Kelleher said all those in at-risk groups, including pregnant women and those with chronic conditions, were advised to get the vaccine. It was not too late to avail of the seasonal flu vaccine if those in at-risk groups had not got it already, he added.

He said infection rates to date were highest among babies to four year olds and five to 14 year olds which is at it was last year and earlier this year during the swine flu pandemic. However consultation rates with GPs for influenza-like illness were 10 times higher last year when the pandemic was at its height than they are now.
Some 36 deaths from swine flu have been reported in England so far this winter. All but one occurred in people under 65 years. In addition 738 people in England have been admitted to intensive care with flu.

There have been no deaths from swine flu in the Republic and admissions to intensive care have been “relatively low”. Dr Kelleher said its likely this is because about a quarter of the Irish population was vaccinated during the pandemic compared to just 10 per cent in England.

Asked if stocks of the pandemic vaccine left over from last year could now be used instead of the seasonal flu vaccine Dr Kelleher said the advice from the National Immunisation Advisory Comm-ittee was that the seasonal flu vaccine should be used as it also contained protection against other viruses in circulation including the H3N2 and B strains of flu.

He stressed that for most people swine flu is a self limiting illness and they can look after themselves at home by taking plenty of fluids and paracetamol.

By Ralph Riegel and Paul Melia


Tuesday January 04 2011

ONE-in-three accident and emergency (A&E) departments may have to close or restrict operations due to the combination of the ongoing water crisis and staffing shortages.

The stark warning came as Dr Chris Luke, A&E consultant at Cork University Hospital, said that struggling A&E departments also face a flood of swine flu cases over the next fortnight as the end of the Christmas and New Year holidays sparks a likely national spread of the virus.

A&E units have already been battling over the past month to cope with a bout of a debilitating winter virus that, while not swine flu, can involve a serious chest infection, which, if neglected, can turn into pneumonia.

Dr Luke said that A&E units were now fighting an increasingly difficult battle to maintain service levels despite ongoing water problems and resource issues.

"The water problem is an issue of serious concern for all of us at this stage," he said.

"I am really very concerned that about a third of (A&E units) may have to close in two weeks' time," he said.

"We have about 30 A&E departments in Ireland and I am really very concerned about one-third of them."
Dr Luke acknowledged that local authorities were working hard to address the water distribution crisis sparked by the Arctic weather and hundreds of fractured water pipes.

Leaks in hospital supplies have been given priority by councils -- and, where pipe repairs are ongoing, water has been delivered by tankers to hospitals.

A HSE spokesman said: "We're not getting any sense that A&Es are in trouble. We're managing the situation and hospitals are working with local authorities.

"Some hospitals have hired tankers, and we're supplying bottled water to others."

But Dr Luke said that hospital operations were crucially dependent on water supplies -- and that water usage actually increased at this time of year rather than decreasing due to the demands of various winter illnesses.

The consultant said that the water problem came as just another headache for A&E units already battling to maintain services despite resource and recruitment problems.

"The annual (hospital) changeover is now on January 11 this year rather than the traditional January 1. It won't be until we see how many doctors actually turn up on January 11 that we know how badly off we are," he said.

Dr Luke added that, since last summer, A&E units have struggled to cope with staffing issues linked to the recruitment of junior doctors.

In a four-month period last summer, emergency departments lost somewhere between 300 and 400 foreign medical staff and they have struggled to fully replace them since then.

In some cases, A&E units were almost forced to restrict services over the shortage of junior doctors and locums.

Stretched

Last September, a total of 270 non-consultant positions were still vacant in various Irish acute hospitals.

"There are grave difficulties in staffing the departments and teams are stretched thinner and thinner," Dr Luke said.

"It's been coming for years and the powers that be were warned well in advance, but now we find ourselves in a very serious situation.

"We could fill the gaps partially with interns -- first-year doctors.

"There is an opportunity here to not export them but use them in A&E departments," he said.

While Irish health budgets are coming under increasing pressure due to the fiscal crisis, foreign countries -- particularly in the Middle East and Asia -- have launched aggressive recruitment campaigns for experienced junior doctors.

The attraction of working abroad has been further enhanced by the inability of many foreign junior doctors to secure long-term contracts in Ireland.

The admission comes after it was revealed that three people in Belfast are currently fighting for their lives in intensive care after contracting the H1N1 strain, also known as swine flu.

Dr. Lorraine Doherty, the PHA's assistant director, stressed on Tuesday that the situation is being monitored very closely.

"Our concentration rate last week was 135 per 100,000 which was an increase in the previous week, but it's nothing like we were seeing during the influenza pandemic and I'd like to stress that we are not in a pandemic situation at the moment," she told UTV.

"We have seen an increase in flu and we are monitoring it very closely."

Dr. Doherty added that this year's situation was completely different from last year when H1N1 was a relatively new strain.

H1N1 and Flu B are two of the more common strains circulating in the community presently.

Figures on the Public Health Agencies website show the number of people diagnosed with the H1NI strain, also known as swine flu, doubled in the last few weeks of December..............................

Flu Hits Bailiwick Hard

More than 20 people have been seen at the PEH suffering from flu like symptoms over the Festrive period.

Two of them have been confirmed as having swine flu but are said to be recovering well.

Health officials say there are several different strains of seasonal flu around at the moment and swine flu is just one.

If you are worried you're asked to visit your GP before heading to the hospital.

Last updated at 2:52pm, 4th January 2011

Patients on trolleys reach record levels

04.01.11

511 hospital patients were treated on trolleys today. According to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation(INMO), that's the highest number ever.

The HSE has blamed a big increase in the number of swine flu cases.

The figure is the largest trolley wait number ever recorded by the INMO's 'Trolley Watch' which records on a daily basis the amount of patients on trolleys in the country's hospitals.

The last time the figure breached the 500 mark in 2006 Health Minister Mary Harney described the situation as a "national emergency".

Emergency medicine consultants have warned that with the effects of the H1N1 virus, junior doctor shortages and bed capacity issues beginning to bite, the situation could get worse in the coming weeks.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Association has claimed a record 511 people were kept on trolleys in hospitals around the country today.

Phil Ní Shéaghdha of the INMO said the figure is the highest seen by the organisation since it first recorded patient numbers on trolleys in 2004.

Responding to the INMO's claims, a spokeswoman for the Health Service Executive, said Emergency Departments are particularly busy at this time of the year, and there has been an increase of patients presenting with swine flu and other seasonal illnesses.

The spokeswoman said people should contact their GP or out of hours services if the first instance if they fall ill and only go to Emergency Departments in emergencies.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0104/health.html

More on the article previously posted.

Fears as more than 200 hit by swine flu

Date: 05 January 2011

THERE are fears of a "serious" swine flu situation developing in Northern Ireland, with the number of people now diagnosed with the virus rising again to more than 200.

In the week before Christmas, the number of people found to have the H1N1 virus in Ulster had more than doubled from 56 to 129.

The latest swine flu figures, which reveal there to be over 200 sufferers, were released by the Public Health Agency yesterday after the Department of Health was accused of not revealing the full extent of the outbreak in Northern Ireland.

Nichola Mallon, of the SDLP, claimed not enough was being done to warn the public about the risks of swine flu, and the Belfast councillor said she understood three people were in intensive care with the virus.

"My information, and it comes from within the department, is that there is a very serious situation unfolding," she said.

"The three individuals in intensive care are not in the high-risk category. The public deserves the fullest possible advice on what to do in the current circumstances.

"After all, the one thing that the department of health, and indeed the various health trusts, are not short of is press officers. So why has there been such a code of silence?"

Ms Mallon said that in other parts of the UK there had been a coordinated policy built around advertising the threat level and how to protect the public, but this had not happened in Northern Ireland.

"Instead there has been a totally ineffective approach," she added.
"Pregnant mothers last year were given extensive advice through the media and other information channels.

"This time around there has been no such policy being followed. It is obviously a matter of the Department of Health looking at ways of cutting its budget.

"However, that sort of tactic should never be at the expense of putting lives at risk," councillor Mallon warned.

When asked to confirm whether there were people with flu in intensive care in Northern Ireland, the PHA said it would "not be commenting on any hospitalisations".

Last week, the agency urged pregnant women, the elderly, the disabled, and other 'at risk' groups to get vaccinated against swine flu at the earliest opportunity.

As people across the province continue to struggle with interruption to water supplies, the PHA also asked people to maintain high levels of hygiene and always to wash their hands to stop the spread of swine flu and other winter illnesses.

A PHA spokeswoman said it had witnessed an increase in influenza cases generally, not only those with swine flu, but that flu cases increased every year at winter.

She added: "While it is possible that figures may rise, at the moment there are about half the number of people with swine flu that there were at the height of the pandemic last year."

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation has said there were 569 patients on trolleys in hospital emergency departments this morning - the highest number ever recorded.

The worst affected hospitals are Cork University Hospital with 48 patients waiting; Beaumont Hospital has 45 patients on trolleys and the Mid West Regional Hospital in Limerick has 44 patients waiting.

Today's figures break yesterday's record of 511 patients on trolleys.

The HSE said that many planned operations are being postponed due to overcrowding in Emergency Departments.