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DEATHS RISE TO 128 AS SWINE FLU CLAIMS YOUNGER VICTIMS
Swine Flu is affecting the young more than the elderly
Friday October 23,2009
By Jo Willey
Comment Speech Bubble Have your say(1)
YOUNG people are being hit hardest by swine flu, with more of them dying than the elderly.
As the death toll rose to 128, Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson yesterday admitted his concern over the high proportion of young people being killed, describing it as a ?very unusual pattern for flu?.
His comments came as the estimated number of new cases almost doubled, raising fears that increasing hospital admissions will put pressure on NHS beds.
The estimated number of new cases this week was 53,000, almost double last week?s 27,000.
The death toll in England is now 93, with 21 in Scotland, eight in Northern Ireland and six in Wales.
It was confirmed yesterday that a 16-year-old boy was among four people with swine flu to have died in the last 24 hours in Scotland. All had significant underlying health problems.
They included a 77-year-old man and a woman of 54 from Glasgow and a 47-year-old woman from Fife.
Sir Liam said he was most worried by the number of people now in hospital, which has risen in England to 506. Of those, 99 are critically ill, the highest number since the pandemic began.
Sir Liam said: ?We don?t understand why this has happened. It looks as if the virus is having a different impact in the flu season than it had in the summer.?
He said he was concerned by the high proportion of deaths in younger age groups. A total of 54 per cent of deaths have been in the under-45 age group, with 77 per cent among those aged under 65.
With seasonal flu the majority of deaths would be expected in the over-65s.
One in three deaths were of people who had little or no underlying health problems.
Sir Liam said: ?It?s highly unusual to have so many younger people dying. We should not pass this off as an acceptable number.?
The total number of cases is estimated so far to be 435,000 but the number of new cases could peak at 1.5 million people a week, putting prolonged pressure on the NHS over the winter.
There could be 35,000 more hospital admissions, with 15 per cent of patients needing critical care. If such a scenario unfolds, there could be a total of 1,000 deaths and five per cent of working people off sick.
It is also estimated that one in three children could catch the disease, described as ?a very high proportion?.
Sir Liam said: ?We are starting to worry about the sustained pressure over the winter that the NHS might face. It?s a very long period for the NHS to sustain its response.
?There is concern about the continuing pressure that the NHS is likely to be under this winter from swine flu over a sustained period of time but also from other winter *illnesses including seasonal flu.?
At the weekly swine flu briefing at the Department of Health in London, Ian *Dalton, national director of NHS flu resilience, said the Health Service had put an ?unprecedented amount? of work into preparing for the spread of the virus and being able to increase the number of critical-care beds where necessary.
Sir Liam said there was evidence that some doctors had been more willing to move swine flu victims to critical-care beds more quickly because they had been ?unnerved by the severity of the illness? and how quickly it could become life-threatening.
DEATHS RISE TO 128 AS SWINE FLU CLAIMS YOUNGER VICTIMS
Swine Flu is affecting the young more than the elderly
Friday October 23,2009
By Jo Willey
Comment Speech Bubble Have your say(1)
YOUNG people are being hit hardest by swine flu, with more of them dying than the elderly.
As the death toll rose to 128, Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson yesterday admitted his concern over the high proportion of young people being killed, describing it as a ?very unusual pattern for flu?.
His comments came as the estimated number of new cases almost doubled, raising fears that increasing hospital admissions will put pressure on NHS beds.
The estimated number of new cases this week was 53,000, almost double last week?s 27,000.
The death toll in England is now 93, with 21 in Scotland, eight in Northern Ireland and six in Wales.
It was confirmed yesterday that a 16-year-old boy was among four people with swine flu to have died in the last 24 hours in Scotland. All had significant underlying health problems.
They included a 77-year-old man and a woman of 54 from Glasgow and a 47-year-old woman from Fife.
Sir Liam said he was most worried by the number of people now in hospital, which has risen in England to 506. Of those, 99 are critically ill, the highest number since the pandemic began.
Sir Liam said: ?We don?t understand why this has happened. It looks as if the virus is having a different impact in the flu season than it had in the summer.?
He said he was concerned by the high proportion of deaths in younger age groups. A total of 54 per cent of deaths have been in the under-45 age group, with 77 per cent among those aged under 65.
With seasonal flu the majority of deaths would be expected in the over-65s.
One in three deaths were of people who had little or no underlying health problems.
Sir Liam said: ?It?s highly unusual to have so many younger people dying. We should not pass this off as an acceptable number.?
The total number of cases is estimated so far to be 435,000 but the number of new cases could peak at 1.5 million people a week, putting prolonged pressure on the NHS over the winter.
There could be 35,000 more hospital admissions, with 15 per cent of patients needing critical care. If such a scenario unfolds, there could be a total of 1,000 deaths and five per cent of working people off sick.
It is also estimated that one in three children could catch the disease, described as ?a very high proportion?.
Sir Liam said: ?We are starting to worry about the sustained pressure over the winter that the NHS might face. It?s a very long period for the NHS to sustain its response.
?There is concern about the continuing pressure that the NHS is likely to be under this winter from swine flu over a sustained period of time but also from other winter *illnesses including seasonal flu.?
At the weekly swine flu briefing at the Department of Health in London, Ian *Dalton, national director of NHS flu resilience, said the Health Service had put an ?unprecedented amount? of work into preparing for the spread of the virus and being able to increase the number of critical-care beds where necessary.
Sir Liam said there was evidence that some doctors had been more willing to move swine flu victims to critical-care beds more quickly because they had been ?unnerved by the severity of the illness? and how quickly it could become life-threatening.