UK: 607 confirmed fatalities due to influenza

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: UK: 112 confirmed fatalities (190 reported fatalities), 800+ Patients in intensive care due to influenza

monotreme @ PFI

Arrowe Park Hospital doctor dies from swine flu (Merseyside/Liverpool area
Jan 19 2011 by Liza Williams, Heswall News

A DOCTOR who worked at Arrowe Park hospital has died from swine flu.

The man, who was in his early 30s, passed away at Southport Hospital last week.

A spokeswoman for Arrowe Park said the trust could not comment.

Health chiefs today urged all medical professionals to get vaccinated.

...

http://www.wirralnews.co.uk/wirral-news/local-wirral-news/west-wirral-news/2011/01/19/arrowe-park-hospital-doctor-dies-from-swine-flu-80491-28007885/

[Giuseppe]

Re: UK: 112 confirmed fatalities (191 reported fatalities), 800+ Patients in intensive care due to influenza

Full ECDC report: http://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/publica...0_December.pdf
Full text at FluTrackers.com: http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/sho...d.php?t=158753
Tables and phylogenetic trees: http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/sho...d.php?t=158751

(...)

The results show that the vast majority of viruses had similar levels and patterns of reactivity to the antisera and remained antigenically similar to the vaccine virus A/California/7/2009.

One virus?A/Northern Ireland/1/2010?showed a reduced level of reactivity with the majority of sera; sequencing of this virus is ongoing.

(...)

Two viruses from England collected in November are shown in the phylogenetic tree; these viruses do not cluster together.

The genetic characteristics of viruses isolated more recently in the UK have been described elsewhere (Ellis J, Galiano M, Pebody R, et al; Virological analysis of fatal influenza cases in the United Kingdom during the early wave of influenza in winter 2010/11. EuroSurveill. 2011;16(1): pii=19760.)

(...)
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[JimO]

Re: UK: 112 confirmed fatalities (191 reported fatalities), 800+ Patients in intensive care due to influenza

Source: http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereven...ath_toll_rises

Operations axed as swine flu death toll rises

Charlotte Cox and Rhiannon McDowall

January 12, 2011

All routine surgical operations due to take place at Macclesfield Hospital this week have been postponed following a second swine flu death.

The move to make way for seriously-ill patients follows the death of Garth Bielby, 58, from Wilmslow, who died in intensive care at the hospital last week.

Comment: I found this article from the 12th identifying one of the fatalities that was not previously mentioned.

more at the link above

[Anne]

Re: UK: 112 confirmed fatalities (191 reported fatalities), 800+ Patients in intensive care due to influenza

http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0118/swinelfu.html

A seriously ill Irish swine flu patient has been flown to hospital in Denmark for specialist treatment for respiratory failure.

The treatment is available at the Mater Hospital in Dublin but the facilities there are limited, so the HSE has sent a number of Irish swine flu patients abroad to be treated.
It is believed that a swine flu patient, who was in the intensive care unit at Cork University Hospital, was transferred to Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark last Friday.
He was transferred there by a medical team from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, which also provides the highly-complex treatment.
The Karolinska Institute is also understood to be treating another patient from the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick.

[JimO]

Re: UK: 112 confirmed fatalities (191 reported fatalities), 800+ Patients in intensive care due to influenza

Source: http://www.thisisgrimsby.co.uk/news/...l/article.html

Tributes paid to courageous swine flu victim who died aged 26

The 26-year-old sufferer of Retts syndrome had never been well enough to be vaccinated against the H1-N1 virus at her local GP surgery.

Hers is believed to be the first death in North East Lincolnshire from the virus, which has claimed around 120 lives nationally.

more at link above...

[JimO]

Re: UK: 112 confirmed fatalities (191 reported fatalities), 800+ Patients in intensive care due to influenza

Another death in Scotland

Source: http://www.thesun.co.uk/scotsol/home...death-No2.html

Town Hit By Pig Flu Death No. 2

A WOMAN of 45 ... became the second person in a small town to be killed by swine flu in little more than a week.

Alyson Reid, of Stonehaven, passed away last Friday...

It comes after flu patient Gerald Matthew, 42 - also from the Aberdeenshire community of 10,000 people - died on January 8...

More at link above

[JimO]

Re: UK: 112 confirmed fatalities (191 reported fatalities), 800+ Patients in intensive care due to influenza

Source: http://www.sunderlandecho.com/news/l...t_28_1_2911186

Sunderland man dies from swine flu at 28

By Tim Booler
Published on Fri Jan 07 11:51:23 GMT 2011


A WEARSIDE man has died of swine flu at the age of just 28.

Carl Winspear’s sudden death comes as concerns grow...

More at link above

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: UK: 112 confirmed fatalities (199 reported fatalities) due to influenza

Kidderminster woman, 21, died from pneumonia
9:02am Thursday 20th January 2011

By Jennifer Meierhans ?

A TWENTY-one-year-old Kidderminster woman who died suddenly after complaining of flu-like symptoms had pneumonia, a coroner has ruled.

Lisa Wimbush, of Trimpley Close, began to feel ill on Tuesday, November 23, 2010 but went to work as usual at the British Heart Foundation charity shop in Kidderminster. She took painkillers including Calpol but the following day she felt worse and called in sick.

....

http://www.kidderminstershuttle.co.uk/news/8802268.Kidderminster_woman__21__died_from_pneumonia/

[sharon sanders]

Re: UK: 112 confirmed fatalities (199 reported fatalities) due to influenza

20 January 2011 Last updated at 09:10 ET Death toll continues to rise as row over jabs erupts

By Nick Triggle Health reporter, BBC News

The death toll from this winter's flu outbreak is continuing to rise as a row erupts over who should manage the vaccination campaign in the future.
Latest figures show 254 people in the UK have died - up from 112 last week.

more...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12238404

[tetano]

Re: UK: 112 confirmed fatalities (244 reported fatalities) due to influenza

Influenza activity appears to be declining in the UK. GP consultation rates remain above baseline levels in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Influenza A H1N1 (2009) and B are the predominant circulating viruses with few, sporadic A (H3N2) viruses detected. The H1N1 (2009) virus strain is virologically and epidemiologically similar to that seen during the pandemic. The virus strains circulating are overall well matched to the current influenza vaccine.

* In week 2 (ending 16 January), the weekly influenza/influenza-like illness (ILI) consultation rates decreased in England (66.5 per 100,000), Scotland (42.9 per 100,000), Wales (51.5 per 100,000) and Northern Ireland (194.0 per 100,000).
* The weekly national proportions of NHS Direct calls for cold/flu have decreased, although a slight increase in calls for fever in children has been observed.
* Seven acute respiratory disease outbreaks were reported in the UK in week 2, two in care homes, one in a hospital, one in a prison and three in schools. This brings the total reported this season so far to 153.
* Seventy-nine of 278 (28.4%) specimens from patients with ILI presenting to sentinel GPs in England in week 2, were reported as positive for influenza. The proportion of specimens reported to DataMart (England) as positive for influenza decreased to 19.7% (584 of 2,961). The proportion of samples positive for RSV was stable and was low for rhinovirus, parainfluenza, adenovirus and HMPV.
* Currently the main circulating influenza strains are influenza A (H1N1) and influenza B.
* Since week 36, 254 UK deaths associated with influenza infection have been reported. Excess all-cause mortality continues to be observed in week 1.
* By week 2, the proportion of people in England aged over 65 years who had received the 2010/11 influenza vaccine was 71.7%. For those in a risk group aged under 65 years it was 48.0%. Amongst frontline health-care workers the provisional uptake was 26.1% by 31 December 2010.
* In Europe, most countries are continuing to report increasing influenza activity, primarily associated with influenza A H1N1 (2009). In the USA influenza activity has decreased slightly but continued to increase in Canada. In North America influenza A (H3N2) and B viruses have been predominant.

http://www.hpa.org.uk/web/HPAweb&HPAwebStandard/HPAweb_C/1287147913271

[cartski]

Re: UK: 112 confirmed fatalities (244 reported fatalities) due to influenza

.
* In Europe, most countries are continuing to report increasing influenza activity, primarily associated with influenza A H1N1 (2009). In the USA influenza activity has decreased slightly but continued to increase in Canada. In North America influenza A (H3N2) and B viruses have been predominant.

http://www.hpa.org.uk/web/HPAweb&HPA.../1287147913271

Note the excellent presentation and summary in the pdf file of "HPA Weekly National Influenza Graphs":

http://www.hpa.org.uk/web/HPAwebFile/HPAweb_C/1284475036543

J.

[Giuseppe]

Re: UK: 254 confirmed fatalities due to influenza

I would like to remind that a preliminary study about antigenicity of the most recent European Region influenza virus (A and B) isolates is available at: http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/sho...d.php?t=158753 - http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/sho...d.php?t=158751

Some of the December 2010 UK isolates denoted a somewhat reduced affinity toward antibodies elicited by vaccines seed.

A commentary to this surveillance report is eagerly awaited.

[cartski]

Re: UK: 254 confirmed fatalities due to influenza

Based on the media reports, how many of the 254 UK deaths did or did not have a flu shot?

J.

[mixin]

Re: UK: 254 confirmed fatalities due to influenza

I would like to remind that a preliminary study about antigenicity of the most recent European Region influenza virus (A and B) isolates is available at: http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/sho...d.php?t=158753 - http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/sho...d.php?t=158751

Some of the December 2010 UK isolates denoted a somewhat reduced affinity toward antibodies elicited by vaccines seed.

A commentary to this surveillance report is eagerly awaited.

If I understood the Mill Hill report correctly, they knew there was a problem with the B Victoria strain back in September.

In the Victoria-lineage many viruses yielded reduced titres with anti-sera raised against the egg-grown vaccine virus.

100 Samples taken
74 were propagated

10 had <2 fold reduction
19 had 4 fold reduction
45 had >8 fold reduction

A couple of those with >8 fold:
Ukraine, March, 12 were sampled, 12 propageted, 12 had >8 fold
S. Africa, June: 6, 6, 6, July: 4,4,4 then August: 3,3,3

http://www.nimr.mrc.ac.uk/documents/...t-sep-2010.pdf

[Hogweed]

Re: UK: 254 confirmed fatalities due to influenza

Total deaths (England and Wales) from all causes has now been running at 669 deaths per week above the 5 year average over the last 5 weeks. That's 6.4% above the 5 year average.

See http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBas...eets/D6157.xls

And http://www.hpa.org.uk/web/HPAweb&HPA.../1287147913271

In week 1, an estimated 12,644 all-cause deaths were registered in England and Wales (source: Office for National Statistics). This is increased from 11,484 in week 51 and remains above the upper limit of expected levels for this time of year (figure 9). Potential factors for this excess include recent cold weather and circulating respiratory viruses. It should be noted that closures of registry offices in the Christmas/New Year period results in a dip and subsequent increase in death registrations.