Gert van der Hoek
In Memoriam - Editor, Senior Moderator
People 'should be prepared for more swine flu cases' in Northern Ireland
Tuesday, 9 June 2009
Northern Ireland should brace itself for more cases of swine flu in the coming days and weeks, Stormont's Health Minister said today.
With the World Health Organisation warning that an official pandemic is now close, the number of confirmed instances in the region - which currently sits at six - is set to rise in the weeks ahead, Michael McGimpsey told the Assembly.
"Given this increasing number of cases worldwide, we can expect to see more here," he told MLAs.
The latest two cases in Northern Ireland were confirmed last night, bringing to five the number diagnosed in a week.
The man and woman had returned separately from Florida and New York. They are being treated at home with anti-viral drugs and are recovering well.
Mr McGimpsey said if incidents reach a certain level local health authorities will have to look closely at how they manage the supply of anti-virals.
"Currently we remain at the World Health Organisation pandemic alert level 5," he said.
"This means that a pandemic is thought to be imminent but is not necessarily inevitable. In recent days, the World Health Organisation has advised that we are getting closer to Phase 6 - where a pandemic is declared. It is not possible to state when this may happen but we are preparing for a possible announcement in the near future.
"A move to phase 6 would be a serious development, but the World Health Organisation alert levels reflect the global view, and any action taken in the UK will need to be based on the situation here.
"Currently in Northern Ireland, as in the rest of the UK, we are following a containment strategy - supplying antivirals both to those who develop the disease and, as a preventive measure, to their close contacts.
"This strategy has been effective to date in delaying the spread of the disease, and buying us valuable time.
"The number of people developing this disease will certainly rise over the coming weeks, as we have already seen in parts of Scotland and England.
"Thus we need to be prepared for the next stage, in which the outbreak can no longer be contained and has spread more widely. At that point we expect to have to move from a containment strategy to a mitigation strategy. This means that when the number of cases increases beyond a certain level, we will have to keep under review to what extent we supply antivirals to contacts - in the first instance supplying them only to immediate close contacts rather than to all contacts."
Northern Ireland has significant stockpiles of antivirals, enough to treat 50% of the population, being increased to treat 80%.
An agreement for a pre-pandemic vaccine has also been signed. By December there could be enough vaccine to protect at least half of the population from swine flu, the minister said.
As of yesterday there were confirmed cases in 73 countries with 25,952 people having contracting the virus and a total of 139 deaths.
Throughout the UK there are now 664 confirmed cases. In Republic of Ireland 11 have been confirmed.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/n...e-flu-cases-in-northern-ireland-14331957.html
Tuesday, 9 June 2009
Northern Ireland should brace itself for more cases of swine flu in the coming days and weeks, Stormont's Health Minister said today.
With the World Health Organisation warning that an official pandemic is now close, the number of confirmed instances in the region - which currently sits at six - is set to rise in the weeks ahead, Michael McGimpsey told the Assembly.
"Given this increasing number of cases worldwide, we can expect to see more here," he told MLAs.
The latest two cases in Northern Ireland were confirmed last night, bringing to five the number diagnosed in a week.
The man and woman had returned separately from Florida and New York. They are being treated at home with anti-viral drugs and are recovering well.
Mr McGimpsey said if incidents reach a certain level local health authorities will have to look closely at how they manage the supply of anti-virals.
"Currently we remain at the World Health Organisation pandemic alert level 5," he said.
"This means that a pandemic is thought to be imminent but is not necessarily inevitable. In recent days, the World Health Organisation has advised that we are getting closer to Phase 6 - where a pandemic is declared. It is not possible to state when this may happen but we are preparing for a possible announcement in the near future.
"A move to phase 6 would be a serious development, but the World Health Organisation alert levels reflect the global view, and any action taken in the UK will need to be based on the situation here.
"Currently in Northern Ireland, as in the rest of the UK, we are following a containment strategy - supplying antivirals both to those who develop the disease and, as a preventive measure, to their close contacts.
"This strategy has been effective to date in delaying the spread of the disease, and buying us valuable time.
"The number of people developing this disease will certainly rise over the coming weeks, as we have already seen in parts of Scotland and England.
"Thus we need to be prepared for the next stage, in which the outbreak can no longer be contained and has spread more widely. At that point we expect to have to move from a containment strategy to a mitigation strategy. This means that when the number of cases increases beyond a certain level, we will have to keep under review to what extent we supply antivirals to contacts - in the first instance supplying them only to immediate close contacts rather than to all contacts."
Northern Ireland has significant stockpiles of antivirals, enough to treat 50% of the population, being increased to treat 80%.
An agreement for a pre-pandemic vaccine has also been signed. By December there could be enough vaccine to protect at least half of the population from swine flu, the minister said.
As of yesterday there were confirmed cases in 73 countries with 25,952 people having contracting the virus and a total of 139 deaths.
Throughout the UK there are now 664 confirmed cases. In Republic of Ireland 11 have been confirmed.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/n...e-flu-cases-in-northern-ireland-14331957.html