UK: 607 confirmed fatalities due to influenza

[CopitoSP]

Re: UK: Reports of Approximately 30 Deaths and 302 Patients in intensive care (17 deaths confirmed by HPA as for Dec. 16 2010)

Winter flu 'hits intensive care'

Experts are urging people to have the vaccine to protect them against flu viruses


Flu deaths reach 17 this winter

More than 300 people are in intensive care with flu, official figures reveal.

Latest data from the Department of Health for England show there have been 302 people in intensive care beds.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12052816

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: UK: Reports of Approximately 30 Deaths and 302 Patients in intensive care (17 deaths confirmed by HPA as for Dec. 16 2010)

Woman dies from swine flu at Infirmary
Date published: 21 December 2010

A woman has died from swine flu at the Rochdale Infirmary.

The patient, understood to have underlying health problems, was from Bury.

The woman is the second person to die from the flu virus at the Infirmary.

NHS Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale were unable to comment because the patient was not a Rochdale resident.

...

continues at;

http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/50877/woman-dies-from-swine-flu-at-infirmary

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: UK: Reports of Approximately 30 Deaths and 302 Patients in intensive care (17 deaths confirmed by HPA as for Dec. 16 2010)

Swine flu death toll rises to seven in Greater Manchester
December 21, 2010

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A woman, from Bury, died at Rochdale Infirmary after being struck down with the H1N1 bug. NHS chiefs said she had underlying health problems.
Another two people have died from swine flu ? bringing the number of confirmed victims of the virus in Greater Manchester this winter to seven.

A woman, from Bury, died at Rochdale Infirmary after being struck down with the H1N1 bug. NHS chiefs said she had underlying health problems.

A man, also from Bury, died around two weeks ago but tests have only just shown that the cause was swine flu. As previously reported in the M.E.N, a Manchester man, a woman from Bolton, two men from Oldham and a man from Rochdale have died after contracting swine flu in recent weeks

http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/health/s/1401054_swine_flu_death_toll_rises_to_seven_in_greater_manchester

[Giuseppe]

Re: UK: Reports of Approximately 30 Deaths and 302 Patients in intensive care (17 deaths confirmed by HPA as for Dec. 16 2010)

A little of 2009 influenza history for UK, december 2009:







These graphs are from UK HPA, posted on its site last year spanning from the beginning of December 2009 to Christmas Eve.

As readers can see, 2009-2010 season started earlier than in all previous years due the pandemic influenza.

For comparison high level of influenza-like illness activity was experienced during 1999-2000 season and 2008-09 season.

Direct comparison with last year activity during December could result in wrong conclusion as the peak of incidence was earlier in the year.

See also this graph for baseline and epidemic threshold level of ILI for UK: (Jun 2009)


-
See also this excerpt from Dec. 2009 (with lower than previous years ILI activity) HPA bulletin:

Source: http://www.hpa.org.uk/webw/HPAweb&HP...=1231252394302

(...)

SEVERITY

Disease severity continues to be monitored. The disease is generally mild in most people so far, but is proving severe in a small minority of cases.

* Swine flu hospitalisations in England: 454 patients (currently hospitalised as of 8am on 23 December). The number of hospitalised patients is now declining.
* Deaths - the number of deaths related to swine flu in England as of 17 December is 203 (This figure represents the number of deaths in individuals with swine flu but does not represent the number of deaths that can be attributed to swine flu). There will be an updated deaths figure in the briefing on Thursday 7 January 2010.

(...)

-
------

[Giuseppe]

Re: UK: Reports of Approximately 30 Deaths and 302 Patients in intensive care (17 deaths confirmed by HPA as for Dec. 16 2010)

Just another piece of history of 2009 december influenza situation across EU/EFTA countries.

Source ECDC: http://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/healtht...rt_0900hrs.pdf

Table 1. Reported number of confirmed 2009 pandemic influenza A(H1N1) cases admitted to hospitals and intensive care, by country, as of 23 December 2009, 9.00 CEST in EU and EFTA countries.

[Country - (date of report) - Number of cases currently hospitalised - Cumulative number of cases admitted in hospitals - Number of cases currently in intensive care - Cumulative number of cases admitted to intensive care]

1.
Austria (17.12.) - 172 ? ? ? ? ? ?
2.
Belgium (17.12.) ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
3.
Bulgaria (13.12) ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
4.
Cyprus(23.11) ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 6
5.
Czech Republic (16.12.) ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
6.
Denmark (16.12.) ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
7.
Estonia (16.12.) ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
8.
Finland (22.12.) - 10 ? ? - 5 ? ?
9.
France (21.12.) ? ? ? ? ? 221 ? 918
10.
Germany (11.12.) ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
11.
Greece (16.12.) ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
12.
Hungary (13.12.) ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
13.
Iceland (10.12.) ? 3 ? 180 ? 1 ? 20
14.
Ireland (16.12.) ? 152 ? 1015 ? 9 ? 84
15.
Italy (22.12.) ? ? - 832 ? ? ? 448
16.
Latvia (17.12.) ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
17.
Liechtenstein (17.12.) ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
18.
Lithuania (21.12.) ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
19.
Luxembourg (16.11.) ? ? ? ? ? 0 ? 0
20.
Malta (04.09.) ? ? - 46 ? ? ? 1
21.
Netherlands (18.12.) ? 50 ? 2124 ? 4 ? 203
22.
Norway (14.12.) ? 14 ? 1298 ? 5 ? 170
23.
Poland (15.12.) ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
24.
Portugal (13.12.) - 133 ? ? - 25 ? ?
25.
Romania (21.12.) ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
26.
Slovakia (22.12.) ? 51 ? 260 ? 18 ? 94
27.
Slovenia (17.12.) - 76 ? ? ? ? ? ?
28.
Spain (17.12.) ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
29.
Sweden (17.12.) ? 18 - 1169 ? ? ? ?
30.
Switzerland (17.12.) ? 23 - 345 ? ? ? 66
31.
United Kingdom* (17.12.) - 523 ? ? - 113 ? ?

Note: Data for the EU and EFTA countries correspond to the Ministry of Health or surveillance centre websites.

(?) denotes no information readily available in official sources.

* Data includes information for England only. Other cumulative hospitalisations are: Scotland (1423), Wales (433) and Northern Ireland (573).

Table 2. Reported number of new and cumulative confirmed fatal 2009 pandemic influenza A(H1N1) cases in EU and EFTA countries, as 23 December 2009, 9.00 CEST, and in the rest of the world by country, as of 22 December 2009, 16.00 CEST.

[Country - Number of new fatal cases since previous national update - Cumulative number of fatal cases]

*
EU and EFTA countries
o
Austria ? ? 3
o
Belgium ? ? 17
o
Bulgaria ? ? 35
o
Cyprus ? ? 3
o
Czech Republic ? ? 38
o
Denmark 2 - 23
o
Estonia ? ? 7
o
Finland ? ? 36
o
France ? - 200*
o
Germany ? ? 119
o
Greece ? ? 51
o
Hungary ? ? 36
o
Iceland ? ? 2
o
Ireland ... ? 22
o
Italy 9 - 187
o
Latvia ? ? 24
o
Lithuania ? ? 14
o
Luxembourg ? ? 2
o
Malta ? ? 3
o
Netherlands ? ? 51
o
Norway ? ? 29
o
Poland 12 - 109
o
Portugal ? ? 52
o
Romania 3 ? 37
o
Slovakia 5 - 30
o
Slovenia ? ? 13
o
Spain ? ? 232
o
Sweden ? ? 20
o
Switzerland ? ? 9
o
United Kingdom ? ? 298
+
Total 31 ? 1702

[tetano]

Re: UK: Reports of Approximately 30 Deaths and 302 Patients in intensive care (17 deaths confirmed by HPA as for Dec. 16 2010)

Swine flu baby fights for life

A five-week-old baby is fighting for his life in hospital after contracting swine flu. Harvey Flannigan is on a life support machine after he was diagnosed with the H1N1 virus and bronchitis.

Parents Andrew Flannigan and Michelle Dyer are holding a bedside vigil at the Royal Manchester Children?s Hospital.

Left fearing the worst for their second child, the couple, from Manchester Road, Heaton Chapel, say Harvey is now showing signs of improvement.

Dad Andrew said: "On Tuesday, we were told that Harvey is 30 per cent better and the medication they?ve given him is working.

"He?s still on a ventilator but he?s now on a grade three rather than grade four, which means he was at death?s door.

"Once he gets to grade one he can come off the life support machine. We are so relieved and are now 100 per cent hopeful he will be okay.

"It?s very difficult particularly given this time of year and Harvey is just five weeks old ? he doesn?t deserve it," added Andrew, 29, who has two sons from a previous relationship, William and Niall, aged seven and four, and a three-year-old girl with Michelle called Amelia.

http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/s/1402240_swine_flu_baby_fights_for_life

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: UK: Reports of Approximately 30 Deaths and 302 Patients in intensive care (17 deaths confirmed by HPA as for Dec. 16 2010)

21 December 2010 Last updated at 12:03 ET

...

Government figures show that 302 beds are now occupied by flu patients. Last week 182 beds were being used.

It is not known how many of those patients have H1N1 "swine flu".

...

Flu patients are now using 9% of intensive care beds.

At the peak of last year's epidemic, 180 people were in critical care with confirmed or suspected flu, including swine flu.

Shadow Health Secretary Jon Healy said the government had made the "wrong judgement" in not having a autumn advertising campaign around vaccination.

...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12052816

[Giuseppe]

Re: UK: Reports of Approximately 30 Deaths and 302 Patients in intensive care (17 deaths confirmed by HPA as for Dec. 16 2010)

21 December 2010 Last updated at 12:03 ET

...

Government figures show that 302 beds are now occupied by flu patients. Last week 182 beds were being used.

It is not known how many of those patients have H1N1 "swine flu".

...

Flu patients are now using 9% of intensive care beds.

At the peak of last year's epidemic, 180 people were in critical care with confirmed or suspected flu, including swine flu.

Shadow Health Secretary Jon Healy said the government had made the "wrong judgement" in not having a autumn advertising campaign around vaccination.

...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12052816

From the post above: http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/sho...1&postcount=36

December 2009 ECDC update: http://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/healtht...rt_0900hrs.pdf

For the current week, United Kingdom* (17.12.2009) - Hospitalized patients: 523 - In ICU: 113

* Data includes information for England only. Other cumulative hospitalisations are: Scotland (1423), Wales (433) and Northern Ireland (573).

I appreciate a commentary by other users on the above data compared with current figures.

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: UK: Reports of Approximately 30 Deaths and 302 Patients in intensive care (17 deaths confirmed by HPA as for Dec. 16 2010)

From the post above: http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/sho...1&postcount=36

December 2009 ECDC update: http://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/healtht...rt_0900hrs.pdf

For the current week, United Kingdom* (17.12.2009) - Hospitalized patients: 523 - In ICU: 113

* Data includes information for England only. Other cumulative hospitalisations are: Scotland (1423), Wales (433) and Northern Ireland (573).

I appreciate a commentary by other users on the above data compared with current figures.

It seems to me for a good comparison we need more data; for instance:

- number of patients (= ??)
- number of fatalities (= 298 in december 2009)

A % means more to me than a number; same number can be high or low or average.

Furthermore: more hospitalisations and more ICU patients could mean doctors are taking the new H1N1 more seriously? IF there are more (%) that is.

More or less fatalities can be related to several things: virulence or also late treatment, or....

In other words: it is not easy to compare this year against last year, many different parameters?

[Giuseppe]

Re: UK: Reports of Approximately 30 Deaths and 302 Patients in intensive care (17 deaths confirmed by HPA as for Dec. 16 2010)

Epi-Curves for December 2009 are here: http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/sho...9&postcount=35

The influenza activity during Dec. 2009 was below the expected level for a pandemic setting, and other season saw an higher incidence for ILI.

Despite this lower incidence the number of patients in need for hospital care was similar to current figure.

The differences between the two scenarios are:

-- a portion of population has immunity against this virus in 2010 through natural infection;

-- a small portion has in addition the vaccine induced immunity;

-- the elderly has less likelihood to get infected through natural immunity achieved in earlier stages of life.

We should have a more precise picture of the actual portion of population without protective immunity, ie those who escaped flu pandemic last year.

We should seek for information about clinical history of current patients: are they previously affected by H1N1 in 2009?, for example.

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: UK: Reports of Approximately 30 Deaths and 302 Patients in intensive care (17 deaths confirmed by HPA as for Dec. 16 2010)

A larger number of critical care patients could indicate a more intense wave than last year, but the duration of the wave may also be affected. Fatalities in Maharashtra, India in July/Aug 2010 were double the same period in 2009, so a more intense wave is not out of the question.

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: UK: Reports of Approximately 30 Deaths and 302 Patients in intensive care (17 deaths confirmed by HPA as for Dec. 16 2010)

Some snips from WHO See also: http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/sho...d.php?t=156874


Influenza update - 17 December 2010

In the United Kingdom, the winter influenza epidemic is under way, particularly across England. Since mid to late November 2010 there have reports of increasing numbers of community outbreaks of influenza (due to both influenza H1N1 (2009) and B viruses), increasing proportions of sentinel respiratory specimens testing positive for influenza (56% in England during the second week of December; of which 67% were H1N1 (2009) and 33% were influenza B viruses), and increasing numbers of severe influenza cases requiring intensive care.

Available data indicate that the currently circulating strain of the H1N1 (2009) virus in the UK is epidemiologically and virologically similar to that observed last year during the influenza H1N1 2009 pandemic.

All influenza viruses characterized to date have been found to be similar to the strains currently included in the seasonal influenza trivalent vaccine. (see below in Virologic Surveillance for details on the characterization of the virus) It is too early to tell what the overall impact of the current epidemic will be in the UK in comparison to the 2009 season.

- snip -

Outbreaks of influenza A H1N1 (2009) and influenza B viruses in the United Kingdom.

A number of severe and fatal cases of influenza A H1N1 (2009) and influenza B have recently been reported by the United Kingdom.

Influenza A H1N1 (2009) viruses characterised to date, in samples from the community, hospitalised patients and fatal cases in the United Kingdom, are antigenically homogeneous and similar to the vaccine virus A/California/7/2009.

Genetically these H1N1 (2009) viruses have several amino acid substitutions relative to the vaccine virus but these do not affect the antigenicity of the virus and have also been seen in viruses from other parts of the world.

The B viruses analysed in the United Kingdom to date are B/Victoria/2/87 lineage viruses and are antigenetically and genetically closely related to the B/Brisbane/60/2008 vaccine virus.

[tetano]

Re: UK: Reports of Approximately 30 Deaths and 302 Patients in intensive care (17 deaths confirmed by HPA as for Dec. 16 2010)

Severe flu cases in UK serve as warning to Europe

LONDON, Dec 21 (Reuters) - More than 300 people are in intensive care in hospitals across Britain with flu, and European health officials say the region should act now to encourage more people to get vaccinated.

A spokeswoman for the British government's health department said a total of 302 people were in critical care beds with flu. She could not say how many had the H1N1 strain which spread around the world as a pandemic from 2009, but experts said it was likely that H1N1 would be dominant.

"From around the country, reports from frontline staff are showing unprecedented levels of hospitalisation with severe flu in high-risk adults," said Peter Openshaw, director of the Centre for Respiratory Infection at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London.

...

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE6BK1R720101221

[sharon sanders]

Re: UK: Reports of Approximately 30 Deaths and 302 Patients in intensive care (17 deaths confirmed by HPA as for Dec. 16 2010)

Thank you everyone for all the news articles and spirited debate:

In Italian -

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=156927

ECMO use:

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=156898

We are watching the situation.

This is not a call to panic.

This is a call to be aware.

If you have any questions, please contact your health practitioner. They know your health condition and can advise you properly.


In the meanwhile -

Wash your hands frequently. A sad lesson we learned in the United States last year was that a co-morbidity such as a bacterial infection + A/H1N1 was lethal for some of our young adults.

Sneeze into your sleeve or tissue and then wash your hands.

Do not kiss on the cheek as a form of salutation this holiday season.

In crowded areas, try to maintain a personal distance. For instance on the subway, sit away from people if you can.

If someone is sick in your household:

1) Contact your family's health practitioner,

2) Isolate that person to one room,

3) Wash your hands and gargle with salt water or mouth wash each time you come out of their room before you do anything else. Use a cleansing solution to wash the door knobs, light switches, toilet handle, and anything else that the sick person has touched.


We have survived as a species with influenza for a millennia. A few simple tips will help you!

[tetano]

Re: UK: Reports of Approximately 30 Deaths and 302 Patients in intensive care (17 deaths confirmed by HPA as for Dec. 16 2010) due to influenza

Alert as patient dies of swine flu

A patient at Macclesfield Hospital has died of swine flu. Macclesfield?s first death from the H1N1 virus this winter, it has sparked a warning from East Cheshire NHS Trust.

Residents over 65 or who have a long-term condition are urged to get a flu jab, which this year defends against three strains, including swine flu.

A spokesman added: "People who had a seasonal flu jab last year will need to get a jab this winter. Most people who contract swine flu will start to feel better after a few days without needing to go to their GP or A&E. It is important to stay at home, to reduce the chance of spreading the virus to other people."

For information go to nhs.uk

http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/s/1402318_alert_as_patient_dies_of_swine_flu