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Summer camp could be new swine flu breeding ground
CAROLYN CHURCHILL June 29 2009
The spread of swine flu may slow down during the summer now that schools have broken up for the holidays, providing less opportunity for person-to-person transmission, according to an expert.
Several schools in Scotland were closed temporarily before the end of term due to outbreaks where pupils were confirmed as having swine flu, and Professor Hugh Pennington, a leading bacteriologist, said that schools had provided an ideal breeding ground for influenza A (H1N1).
Experts have already suggested warmer weather may help stop the spread of the virus, with almost 60,000 confirmed cases worldwide, and Professor Pennington said the school break could help further reduce the chance of the virus being transmitted through communities.
However, speaking as a second person suffering from the virus died in hospital, he warned that children's summer camps could provide a similar environment for the virus.
"The virus has been using schools as a good place to get about," he said. "Places like summer camps where kids all get together could provide a similar situation."
The virus was first reported in Scotland two months ago when Iain and Dawn Askham fell ill after returning from their honeymoon in Mexico. They later expressed concern that they had caught the virus from fellow passengers on the flight. However, Professor Pennington said the risk of holidaymakers catching swine flu on a flight was low.
"There has been an over-exaggeration of the possibility of catching it on a plane," he said. "The virus has been going around places where people are confined for a long time with others. Most people aren't on a plane for a long time." Some 922 cases of swine flu had been confirmed in Scotland by Friday, and given the daily increases at the end of last week, it is expected that more than 1000 people will have tested positive for the virus by today.
Speaking on BBC1's The Politics Show Scotland, Dr Harry Burns, Chief Medical Officer, said that although the first outbreak was recorded north of the border, the West Midlands and London now had more confirmed cases.
He said: "There has been concern that Scotland has had the lion's share of the outbreak because of its underlying health problems. In fact we no longer have the majority of cases.
"But there is no doubt that where there are high instances of heart disease and asthma, that will tend to make the consequences of flu worse, and we do have our share of those problems, particularly in west-central Scotland."
Professor Pennington said although it was hoped warmer weather would help "calm down" the virus, there was a concern it may return, in a more severe form, in winter. Health officials aim to have a vaccine in place by then. "So far all the evidence has shown that it is not changing at all," he said. "But it is a very unpredictable virus and we have got to be ready for anything."
Meanwhile, animal rights campaigners put up a poster with the slogan "Meat Kills. Go Vegetarian" outside the Southern General Hospital in Glasgow, where Jacqueline Fleming, the first person to die from the virus, was treated.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals put the billboard - which features the phrases "swine flu", "e-coli", "mrsa" and "mad cow" behind the main "meat kills" slogan - outside the hospital.
Professor Pennington criticised the campaigners. "You do not catch swine flu from animals," he said. "It is an airborne flu that passes from person to person and has nothing to do with eating meat or being vegetarian."
Summer camp could be new swine flu breeding ground
CAROLYN CHURCHILL June 29 2009
The spread of swine flu may slow down during the summer now that schools have broken up for the holidays, providing less opportunity for person-to-person transmission, according to an expert.
Several schools in Scotland were closed temporarily before the end of term due to outbreaks where pupils were confirmed as having swine flu, and Professor Hugh Pennington, a leading bacteriologist, said that schools had provided an ideal breeding ground for influenza A (H1N1).
Experts have already suggested warmer weather may help stop the spread of the virus, with almost 60,000 confirmed cases worldwide, and Professor Pennington said the school break could help further reduce the chance of the virus being transmitted through communities.
However, speaking as a second person suffering from the virus died in hospital, he warned that children's summer camps could provide a similar environment for the virus.
"The virus has been using schools as a good place to get about," he said. "Places like summer camps where kids all get together could provide a similar situation."
The virus was first reported in Scotland two months ago when Iain and Dawn Askham fell ill after returning from their honeymoon in Mexico. They later expressed concern that they had caught the virus from fellow passengers on the flight. However, Professor Pennington said the risk of holidaymakers catching swine flu on a flight was low.
"There has been an over-exaggeration of the possibility of catching it on a plane," he said. "The virus has been going around places where people are confined for a long time with others. Most people aren't on a plane for a long time." Some 922 cases of swine flu had been confirmed in Scotland by Friday, and given the daily increases at the end of last week, it is expected that more than 1000 people will have tested positive for the virus by today.
Speaking on BBC1's The Politics Show Scotland, Dr Harry Burns, Chief Medical Officer, said that although the first outbreak was recorded north of the border, the West Midlands and London now had more confirmed cases.
He said: "There has been concern that Scotland has had the lion's share of the outbreak because of its underlying health problems. In fact we no longer have the majority of cases.
"But there is no doubt that where there are high instances of heart disease and asthma, that will tend to make the consequences of flu worse, and we do have our share of those problems, particularly in west-central Scotland."
Professor Pennington said although it was hoped warmer weather would help "calm down" the virus, there was a concern it may return, in a more severe form, in winter. Health officials aim to have a vaccine in place by then. "So far all the evidence has shown that it is not changing at all," he said. "But it is a very unpredictable virus and we have got to be ready for anything."
Meanwhile, animal rights campaigners put up a poster with the slogan "Meat Kills. Go Vegetarian" outside the Southern General Hospital in Glasgow, where Jacqueline Fleming, the first person to die from the virus, was treated.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals put the billboard - which features the phrases "swine flu", "e-coli", "mrsa" and "mad cow" behind the main "meat kills" slogan - outside the hospital.
Professor Pennington criticised the campaigners. "You do not catch swine flu from animals," he said. "It is an airborne flu that passes from person to person and has nothing to do with eating meat or being vegetarian."