The true extent of swine flu infection in Britain is being underestimated because hospitals are failing to test patients with respiratory illnesses for the virus, according to one of the world?s leading experts on the disease.
Professor Neil Ferguson, a senior epidemiologist at Imperial College, London, who advises the Government and the World Health Organisation, said an ?almost non-existent? hospital surveillance system means that serious cases of swine flu are almost certainly being missed.
Speaking at The Times Cheltenham Science Festival, he said there was anecdotal evidence of ?significant numbers? of cases of severe respiratory illness in London, which should be checked out in case they have been caused by swine flu. Wider surveillance strategies need to be rethought now that the H1N1 virus seems to be spreading widely through the community.
?One thing I am concerned about is that surveillance of severe disease is almost non-existent,? Professor Ferguson said. ?If you go into hospital and have severe respiratory disease, you will not be tested for H1N1.
?Anecdotally, I am hearing reports of a quite significant number of severe cases of respiratory illness in London. We need to be testing them.
?We need hospital-based surveillance, but while it?s being thought about it?s not been brought in yet.
?We?re not assessing respiratory patients for H1N1, and that is going to be important over the coming weeks.?
The UK needs to learn from the approach taken in the US where the epidemic is much more advanced, Professor Ferguson said.
?In the US, they?ve stopped trying to do individual case surveillance and they?re focusing on testing healthy young adults hospitalised with respiratory disease. That?s the direction we need to follow.?
