Swine flu is back in the UK

The potentially deadly swine flu is back in the UK, following reports that 2 people have been hospitalised after contracting the virus, confirmed yesterday by health officials.

Both patients have been diagnosed has having the H1N1 strain of influenza, and are now being closely monitored at Wishaw General Hospital in North Lanarkshire, Scotland.

The virus was first identified in Mexico back in April 2009, and was first named ‘Mexican flu’. Mexico had 100s of non-lethal cases of the virus prior to the outbreak being officially discovered, with the country in the midst of a “silent epidemic”.

However, it later became labelled as swine flu due to the fact that the virus strikingly bore similarities to already known influenza viruses that cause illness in pigs.

The virus subsequently spread between countries, causing pandemonium as it was a new type of flu virus that barely anyone was immune to. According to the World Health Organization, there were 18,500 lab-confirmed deaths from swine flu in 2009 alone, and anywhere between 10-200 million people infected. Of the total deaths, 350 people died in the UK during the initial pandemic.

The flu jab covers the virus – which is free of charge on the NHS to people 65 years of age or over, pregnant women, those with certain medical conditions, people living in a long-stay residential care home or other long-stay care facility, anyone receiving a carer’s allowance, or the main carer for an elderly or disabled person who could be at further risk if the carer was to become ill and Healthcare workers with direct patient contact or a social care worker.

Children over the age of six months with a long-term health condition and those aged two, three and four plus children in school years one and two are also recommended as having the flu jab.

Health experts have commented that the apparent emergence of the virus was ‘not unusual’ because it never truly went away in the first place.

Leading flu expert, virologist Professor John Oxford, spoke to the MailOnline yesterday and said that the virus has been ‘moving around the community this year.”

“Every year there is three to four influenza viruses but there’s nothing unusual,” he said.
“I’m sure there would have been cases last year in the UK and around Europe. I’m a bit surprised that they have announced it.

“If you have had the flu jab then you wouldn’t expect to get it or the other types of flu.”

Professor Oxford said he predicts more cases of swine flu to emerge in the coming weeks as we enter the peak of the flu season, adding that the virus could be treated with Tamiflu (oseltamivir), and stressed how the most at-risk groups were children and people with underlying health conditions, if they have not been immunised.

The two cases in Scotland only came to prominence after someone had commented about being diagnosed with the virus on social media.

Dr Femi Oshin, consultant in public health medicine at NHS Lanarkshire, said: “Although there are low levels of influenza overall this winter, H1N1, also known as swine flu, is reported to be the main flu virus circulating in the community.

“It is, therefore, to be expected that we will see some cases of H1N1 in Lanarkshire at this time.
“The seasonal influenza vaccination is the best way to protect yourself against flu, including H1N1.
“The annual flu vaccine is available free to pregnant women as well as other eligible groups including people over 65, those who have certain health conditions, healthy children aged two, three and four plus children in school years one and two, and people who work in healthcare.”

Bird flu strikes again with more deaths

It has emerged this week that two devastating strains of flu have broken out across the globe causing massive chaos. Yesterday health officials confirmed that the deadly H1N1 strain of the influenza A virus had caused the deaths of 11 people in Bolivia and infected an additional 873 people. This particular strain first came to global prominence in 2009 as it was the main component of what became known as ‘swine flu’ to many people. This is human, bird and swine flu viruses joined together with a Eurasian pig flu virus. This year it was revealed that staggering 579,000 people may have succumbed to the disease in the last three years, as only those fatalities confirmed by laboratory testing were included in original data.

The latest H1N1 epidemic although very serious, has not yet increased to that of a national crisis. Johnny Rada, director of the ministry of health’s epidemiology service, spoke out to try and restore some degree of calmness. He said, “At the national level, the situation is under control. The most affected area is in the west.” Rada’s comments are backed up by figures that show 606 of the cases emanating from the western department of La Paz, with the next highest department being the eastern area of Santa Cruz, where 167 cases have so far been reported. Bolivia’s Deputy Health Minister Martin Maturano, advised people to stay safe by eating well and making sure to regularly wash hands. It appears that those affected by this outbreak are the groups of people who are usually most at risk of catching the disease and include; the elderly, young children, those who have had a previous illness and have a general weak system and anybody with problems such as diabetes or hypertension. Authorities have yet to confirm if the virus came into human contact from pigs or birds.

Across the world in China however, authorities have already pinpointed the outbreak of flu seen there is definitely the H5N1 avian virus. Like H1N1, this is a subtype of the Influenza A virus and is more commonly referred to as ‘bird flu’ or ‘avian influenza’. Though it is considered an avian virus, there have been some instances of a human to human transmitting of the virus.

The Chinese agriculture ministry have confirmed that the H5N1 strain of avian flu has thus far claimed the lives of 1,600 chickens and a further 5,500 have been left suffering from it. Authorities have acted quickly and culled 156,439 chickens to stop the disease spreading further. It is rumoured that the outbreak began on a farm operated by the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, whom some describe as a ‘semi-military government organisation’ consisting of two and a half million people. The epidemic follows the April outbreak in the Ningxia region of China, which saw 95,000 chickens fall victim to the disease. Also only last month it was reported that a young boy in Hong Kong had been diagnosed with bird flu.

There is currently no definite cure for either of the two strains of flu mentioned above. However it is widely acknowledged that oseltamivir (marketed by Roche as Tamiflu), effectively helps to prevent the influenza virus from spreading inside the body. The medication has even been at the core of many governments and organisation’s efforts previously when anticipating a potential H5N1 pandemic. It is available through Medical Specialists Pharmacy from as little as £21.98 per pack as we have dramatically lowered the price of Tamiflu recently to help out new and existing patients during this difficult recession.