Swine flu: London on brink of epidemic as NHS plans are in disarray
Swine flu: NHS ‘muddle’ as London on brink of epidemic
A leaked NHS memo criticises emergency swine flu planning while the Chief Medical Officer says London is almost in an H1N1 epidemic
By Tim EdwardsFIRST POSTED JULY 10, 2009A leaked memo has revealed that senior NHS officials consider emergency plans to combat the swine flu pandemic in Britain are muddled and pointless.
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Meanwhile, the New Scientist reports three ominous developments:
• Southern hemisphere countries have reported that H1N1 is replacing regular seasonal flu, rendering seasonal vaccines built up over the past year useless. In Victoria, Australia’s hardest-hit state, 99 per cent of all flu cases are H1N1. It is a similar story in Chile and Argentina.
This is exactly what happened during the notorious Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 and is bad news because the northern hemisphere will move into the autumn and the flu season proper with potentially useless seasonal flu vaccines.
• Last week three cases of Tamiflu-resistant H1N1 were discovered. While two of these cases were in people using the drug, the other was found in a girl who had never used Tamiflu, suggesting a Tamiflu-resistant strain of swine flu could be circulating already.
• A mutation in the virus discovered in a sample from Shanghai, China, helps H1N1 replicate more efficiently, potentially making it more contagious and nastier.
Yes, lots of bad reports coming out of the UK...”the center does not hold.”
Australia had around a 40% absentee rate in the schools recently.
Do a search on vit D and Flu for some interesting reading.
“a Tamiflu-resistant strain of swine flu could be circulating already”
YIKES!
UK:
Everyone to get swine flu jab
Last updated: 7/12/2009 11:41:00 AM
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HEALTH chiefs are preparing to vaccinate the entire population against swine flu, it emerged today.
The news comes just days after it was revealed that health bosses in East Anglia were planning to vaccinate everyone in the region.
In what would be the biggest vaccination programme of the last 50 years, experts are already drawing up a priority list of patients to be given immunity before the bug becomes more virulent.
It comes after the first British patient without underlying health problems died in Essex after contracting swine flu, taking the number of swine flu-linked deaths in the UK to 15.
Peter Holden, the British Medical Association’s lead negotiator on swine flu, said: “The high risk groups will be done at GPs’ surgeries.
“People are still making decisions over this, but we want to get cracking before we get a second wave, which is traditionally far more virulent.”
He added: “If the virus does (mutate), it can get a lot more nasty, and the idea is to give people immunity.
“But the sheer logistics of dealing with 60 million people can’t be underestimated.’’
The latest swine flu-linked death happened at Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, NHS East of England.
Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson warned yesterday that other healthy people were at risk of dying from the disease.
He said: “As with all flu-like viruses, some people are at higher risk than others. Unfortunately, people who are otherwise healthy could also become seriously ill or, sadly, die.’’