Tweet
Just a year after outbreaks of swine flu killed more than 500 people, the country is having a much-needed reprieve from the dreaded winter curse.
The Health Protection Agency (HPA), which monitors outbreaks of influenza during the winter months, has reported a massive drop in seasonal flu compared to previous years.
If the trend continues for the rest of the season, the UK will have experienced its lowest ever level of winter flu infections.
In its last weekly report, the agency said rates of people visiting their GPs with flu-like symptoms this winter had fallen to just 15.6 per cent per 100,000 people in England ? around half the rate for normal seasonal activity.
Experts have attributed this season's low rates in part due to the better uptake of the flu jab among vulnerable people. Almost three-quarters of people in England aged 65 or over have received this year?s vaccine, while more than half of people deemed at risk due to other factors such as illness have been vaccinated.
However the drop has been seen mainly in children under the age of five, who do not usually receive the vaccine. Doctors believe this improvement is due to better living conditions.
Douglas Fleming, head of the Royal College of General Practitioners' flu-monitoring service, said: ?The rates of nearly all respiratory infections are falling. There is much less smog, there is far less smoking and there is better hygiene. One of the greatest benefits of central heating may have been not the warmth it brings but the constant hot water.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz1mpsHQOgb
The Health Protection Agency (HPA), which monitors outbreaks of influenza during the winter months, has reported a massive drop in seasonal flu compared to previous years.
If the trend continues for the rest of the season, the UK will have experienced its lowest ever level of winter flu infections.
In its last weekly report, the agency said rates of people visiting their GPs with flu-like symptoms this winter had fallen to just 15.6 per cent per 100,000 people in England ? around half the rate for normal seasonal activity.
Experts have attributed this season's low rates in part due to the better uptake of the flu jab among vulnerable people. Almost three-quarters of people in England aged 65 or over have received this year?s vaccine, while more than half of people deemed at risk due to other factors such as illness have been vaccinated.
However the drop has been seen mainly in children under the age of five, who do not usually receive the vaccine. Doctors believe this improvement is due to better living conditions.
Douglas Fleming, head of the Royal College of General Practitioners' flu-monitoring service, said: ?The rates of nearly all respiratory infections are falling. There is much less smog, there is far less smoking and there is better hygiene. One of the greatest benefits of central heating may have been not the warmth it brings but the constant hot water.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz1mpsHQOgb