Ireland: first swine flu deaths since December

[tetano]

The Department of Health has confirmed that two men have died from the H1N1 swine flu virus.

The men were from the east of the country and had underlying medical conditions.

It is the first time since December that somebody has died from the virus in the Republic of Ireland.

The deaths bring the total number of swine flu fatalities here to 24.

Minister for Health Mary Harney has offered her sympathy to the families of both men.

The HSE said that the number of cases of the virus remains low but warned that it can have a 'serious impact for certain groups'.

It said that the free vaccination of schoolchildren and general members of the public will continue until the end of this month.

It encouraged pregnant women especially to get the vaccine before the campaign ends on 31 March.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0311/swineflu.html

[tetano]

Re: Ireland:Two more people have died from swine flu in Ireland

.

The Department of Health has announced that both patients were men from the east of the country who had underlying medical conditions.

The deaths bring to 24 the number of people who have died from the H1N1 virus in this country.

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/two-swine-flu-patients-die-449622.html

[tetano]

Re: Ireland: first swine flu deaths since December

'Risk still of further swine flu wave'

[Posted: Mon 15/03/2010 by Niall Hunter, Editor]

The Chief Medical Officer of the Department of Health has warned that even though swine flu is on the wane at the moment, there is still a risk of a further wave of infection occurring.

Two further deaths were reported from swine flu last week, the first since mid-December.

However, Dr Tony Holohan, in an interview with irishhealth.com said the current vaccination programme has reduced the likelihood of another wave of infection taking place, although he admits the take-up of the vaccine among the general population is not as high as the Department would like it to be.

?The greater the level of immunity we get in the population, the less likely it is that we will get a second wave but we have no way of predicting with absolute certainty whether we will or not,? Dr Holohan said.

?The most likely time for another wave to happen would be next winter, but that?s by no means a prediction. The take-up (of the vaccine) in the general population is not as high as we would like.?

He said it is currently estimated that up to 20% of the population overall has so far been vaccinated. ?We are still vaccinating in schools and the vaccine will be available in HSE clinics up to the end of the month so we would still be encouraging as many people as possible to come forward to get vaccinated. There will also be stocks in some GP surgeries that people can avail of.?

Dr Holohan said it is estimated that it is necessary to get 40% plus immunity in the population to reduce the risk of a second swine flu outbreak.

Somewhere in the region of 10% to 15% of the population have had the infection so they will have immunity, and then there are 20% who have been vaccinated. There would still be a small amount of residual immunity in around 5% of the population arising from people who are older and have been infected in previous flu pandemics in the fifties and sixties.?

Dr Holohan said this means more than 50% of the population are not immune. ?However, the more we can reduce that figure the less likelihood there is of a second wave. In vaccine uptake rates, we are doing pretty well compared to many other countries.?

He rejects outright suggestions that swine flu was essentially a ?hoax?, conjured up through a conspiracy between Governments and pharmaceutical companies.

?I certainly don?t think it was a hoax, and as to various conspiracy theories, I wouldn?t have any truck with that.?

Dr Holohan points out that of the 24 people who to date have died in Ireland from swine flu, two did not have any underlying health conditions, and there were over 1,000 hospitalisations.

?One death was in a woman who was pregnant but otherwise well and another in a person who was otherwise well and for the most part that does not happen with normal flu.?

He says Ireland and every other country responded appropriately and proportionately to the perceived threat from swine flu at the time.

Dr Holohan says the health authorities here had predicted that the initial wave of infection that began last autumn would last around 15 weeks and that is what happened.

?What we didn?t know was how high the peak in infection was going to go. We planned in such a way to allow for an infection rate of about 25% of the population."

"Because we had those plans in place we were able to cope well with the rate of infection we had.?

He says he would happy to say that overall, the health authorities handled the swine flu infection issue well, and credit is also due to health professionals, the media, schools and the general public in how the situation was handled.

Dr Holohan between and sub-clinical (infected but without symptoms) infection, around 10% to 15% of the population has been infected with the H1N1 virus to date.

He said H1N1 vaccine will form part of the usual seasonal flu vaccination programme next winter, when it will be one of the constituent components of the vaccine administered.

http://www.irishhealth.com/article.html?id=17014