Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://www.eveningtelegraph.co.uk/output/2009/08/14/story13614820t0.shtm
14 August 2009
25 hospitalised locally with H1N1
Just 25 people have been hospitalised in Tayside and Fife since the start of the swine flu outbreak, according to the latest statistics (writes Graham Huband).
The figures come as the Scottish Government confirmed the first phase of a mass vaccination against the virus would begin in October.
In total, 1.4 million Scots will receive the vaccine in the first round of jabs with high-risk groups, pregnant women and front-line healthcare workers given priority.
It is also likely people who share a house with a person suffering from a chronic disease will also be vaccinated.
New data released this week by Health Protection Scotland showed a total of 94 people across the whole of Scotland had been hospitalised as a result of the virus by midday on August 10.
Just 15 of those cases have been deemed serious enough for the patient to receive treatment in an intensive care or high dependency ward while the other 79 were accommodated within general wards.
In Tayside there have been 14 hospitalisations and Fife has had a further 11 cases.
Neither health board has dealt with a serious enough case to merit the patient being treated in a high dependency or intensive care environment.
In the past week, NHS Tayside again reported Scotland?s highest rate of GP consultations where the patient was complaining of flu-like symptoms at 116 cases per 100,000.
However, the figure dropped from a rate of 146.7 per 100,000 the previous week and 155.4 the week before that.
The Fife figure increased slightly this week from a rate of 22.8 last week to 30 per 100,000.
Overall, the health authorities estimated 3100 Scots contracted swine flu over the course of the past week ? slightly more than the 3009 recorded the previous week.
Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said, ?The proportion of samples testing positive for H1N1 has increased slightly, and the estimated total number of people in Scotland who have contracted H1N1 over the past week has stayed approximately the same.
?NHS 24 and our GPs are responding very well to the pandemic, as is our Scottish flu response service.
?In the vast majority of cases, most people have fairly mild symptoms and make a full recovery within a week.?
14 August 2009
25 hospitalised locally with H1N1
Just 25 people have been hospitalised in Tayside and Fife since the start of the swine flu outbreak, according to the latest statistics (writes Graham Huband).
The figures come as the Scottish Government confirmed the first phase of a mass vaccination against the virus would begin in October.
In total, 1.4 million Scots will receive the vaccine in the first round of jabs with high-risk groups, pregnant women and front-line healthcare workers given priority.
It is also likely people who share a house with a person suffering from a chronic disease will also be vaccinated.
New data released this week by Health Protection Scotland showed a total of 94 people across the whole of Scotland had been hospitalised as a result of the virus by midday on August 10.
Just 15 of those cases have been deemed serious enough for the patient to receive treatment in an intensive care or high dependency ward while the other 79 were accommodated within general wards.
In Tayside there have been 14 hospitalisations and Fife has had a further 11 cases.
Neither health board has dealt with a serious enough case to merit the patient being treated in a high dependency or intensive care environment.
In the past week, NHS Tayside again reported Scotland?s highest rate of GP consultations where the patient was complaining of flu-like symptoms at 116 cases per 100,000.
However, the figure dropped from a rate of 146.7 per 100,000 the previous week and 155.4 the week before that.
The Fife figure increased slightly this week from a rate of 22.8 last week to 30 per 100,000.
Overall, the health authorities estimated 3100 Scots contracted swine flu over the course of the past week ? slightly more than the 3009 recorded the previous week.
Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said, ?The proportion of samples testing positive for H1N1 has increased slightly, and the estimated total number of people in Scotland who have contracted H1N1 over the past week has stayed approximately the same.
?NHS 24 and our GPs are responding very well to the pandemic, as is our Scottish flu response service.
?In the vast majority of cases, most people have fairly mild symptoms and make a full recovery within a week.?