Swine flu fight changes focus

EFFORTS will switch from containing the spread of swine flu to lessening its impact on the population from next week, the Department of Health announced last night.

The move follows confirmation of 104 cases of the H1N1 virus in the last two and a half months, with around half identified in the past week. Up to eight cases a day are being confirmed.

It also reflects the change in Britain where health authorities are no longer trying to trace contacts of those who test positive for swine flu and offering anti-virals such as Tamiflu because of the spread of the disease.

The department’s chief medical officer, Dr Tony Holohan, said that people in almost every region of in Ireland had tested positive for the virus. Nine of the cases came from inside the country and all could be traced. Three people have had to be hospitalised but there have been no deaths.

Fifteen of the cases were in children and four were in people over the age of 65.

Dr Holohan said it had been decided to move from containing the disease to mitigating the effects of the disease from next Thursday, because the circumstances in Ireland were not as compelling as they were in Britain where many cases were occurring sporadically, together with high levels of community transmission.

Dr Holohan said the knock-on effect of the situation in Britain was part of the reason for the strategy shift in Ireland. It will no longer be the practice to give anti-virals to everyone with the flu and to those coming into contact with an infected person. “We will not be in the business of attempting to identify every single case that arises and report that case in the way that we have been doing.”

Details of the changes will be conveyed to the public, GPs and hospitals over the coming days with a view to making the changes in a planned and calm way.

Chairman of the National Pandemic Influenza Expert Group Prof Bill Hall said the virus had not changed genetically, nor had its nature changed dramatically. “In the vast majority of cases it is a mild illness,” he said.

A vaccine is expected to arrive in the country at the end of next month.