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November 1, 2009
Swine flu cases soar among under-5s
Stuart MacDonald
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Concerns have been raised about the threat of swine flu to very young children after the number of under-fives admitted to hospital with the virus more than doubled last week.
Forty-nine children aged four and below with the H1N1 strain were admitted to Scottish hospitals ? the highest number for any age group, NHS figures show.
Previously, only 29 children in that age bracket had been taken to hospital since the start of the outbreak. Consultation rates for babies and infants also remain the highest of any age group.
It is thought that young children are more susceptible to swine flu than older people, who have built up a resistance to infections. Doctors have warned parents concerned about children?s health to get medical advice as soon as possible because their child?s condition can rapidly deteriorate.
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Dr Dean Marshall, chairman of the British Medical Association?s Scottish GPs committee, said: ?Unfortunately, the evidence shows that pregnant women and young children are more at risk of getting it, and that?s why we are trying to concentrate on doing them first when we vaccinate people.
?You seem to be better protected if you are older because you have been exposed to a variety of flu viruses all your life.
?The advice going out to practices is to concentrate on pregnant women and children at risk, such as those with asthma and diabetes. The problem with very young children is they get ill quite quickly.
?It can be difficult to tell whether a child is really ill or not, and I would much rather that we hear about it earlier rather than waiting.?
The pandemic is expected to peak over the next few months. The Scottish government is rolling out a vaccination programme for 1.3m people considered at risk, including pregnant mothers and people with underlying health problems.
Jackie Baillie MSP, Labour?s shadow health secretary, said healthy children should be the next priority group. ?It is critical the absolute top priorities get the vaccine first, and that for me would be the 0-4 age group,? she said.
The number of swine flu deaths in Scotland rose to 26 last week and the number of people contracting the infection increased to 19,200.
Nicola Sturgeon, the health secretary, said: ?Hospitalisation rates are following expected trends for this stage in the swine flu pandemic.
?Throughout this pandemic, the 0-4 age group has seen the highest rate of hospitalisations and that hasn?t changed. The rates are, however, consistent with what we expected at this stage.? She added: ?We are assessing future options for the use of vaccine after the initial vaccination of priority groups.?
Swine flu cases soar among under-5s
Stuart MacDonald
<!-- Remove following to not show photographer information --><!-- Remove following to not show image description --><!-- Tip: This here with the id "dynamic-image-navigation" is used so that the innerHTML can be written to by the JS call below. --><script type="text/javascript"><!--fCreateImageBrowser(nSelectedArticleImage,'portrai t',"/tol/");//--></script>
Concerns have been raised about the threat of swine flu to very young children after the number of under-fives admitted to hospital with the virus more than doubled last week.
Forty-nine children aged four and below with the H1N1 strain were admitted to Scottish hospitals ? the highest number for any age group, NHS figures show.
Previously, only 29 children in that age bracket had been taken to hospital since the start of the outbreak. Consultation rates for babies and infants also remain the highest of any age group.
It is thought that young children are more susceptible to swine flu than older people, who have built up a resistance to infections. Doctors have warned parents concerned about children?s health to get medical advice as soon as possible because their child?s condition can rapidly deteriorate.
<!--#include file="m63-article-related-attachements.html"-->
Dr Dean Marshall, chairman of the British Medical Association?s Scottish GPs committee, said: ?Unfortunately, the evidence shows that pregnant women and young children are more at risk of getting it, and that?s why we are trying to concentrate on doing them first when we vaccinate people.
?You seem to be better protected if you are older because you have been exposed to a variety of flu viruses all your life.
?The advice going out to practices is to concentrate on pregnant women and children at risk, such as those with asthma and diabetes. The problem with very young children is they get ill quite quickly.
?It can be difficult to tell whether a child is really ill or not, and I would much rather that we hear about it earlier rather than waiting.?
The pandemic is expected to peak over the next few months. The Scottish government is rolling out a vaccination programme for 1.3m people considered at risk, including pregnant mothers and people with underlying health problems.
Jackie Baillie MSP, Labour?s shadow health secretary, said healthy children should be the next priority group. ?It is critical the absolute top priorities get the vaccine first, and that for me would be the 0-4 age group,? she said.
The number of swine flu deaths in Scotland rose to 26 last week and the number of people contracting the infection increased to 19,200.
Nicola Sturgeon, the health secretary, said: ?Hospitalisation rates are following expected trends for this stage in the swine flu pandemic.
?Throughout this pandemic, the 0-4 age group has seen the highest rate of hospitalisations and that hasn?t changed. The rates are, however, consistent with what we expected at this stage.? She added: ?We are assessing future options for the use of vaccine after the initial vaccination of priority groups.?
