‘No need for alarm’ despite fourth swine flu death

THE number of fatal cases of swine flu doubled in the last week to four, with women from both the east and west of the country succumbing to the virus.

Department of Health deputy chief medical officer Dr John Devlin, however, said although incidents of the illness were on the rise people should not be unduly alarmed. Both of the women who died in the last week were suffering from underlying medical conditions which complicated their illness. Dr Devlin added that, in the vast majority of cases, the virus was a mild disease with most patients able to care for themselves at home.

Dr Devlin extended “on behalf of the minister, the department and the HSE sympathies to the families” of the two dead women at this “distressing time”.

At the weekly briefing in Government Buildings yesterday it was revealed that infection figures had increased slightly to about 3,600 cases a week.

Meanwhile, the HSE has written to GPs asking them to take part in a widespread vaccination programme, to begin later this month on high risk groups.

GPs will be asked to identify the 400,000 people around the country at risk.

The HSE has appealed to doctors to participate in this once-off public health measure and they will be paid €10 for each of the two shots required. The drugs are Pandemrix, which is manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline, and Focetria, manufactured by Novartis.

An Irish Medical Organisation spokeswoman said that despite requests there had been no consultation with her organisation how such a scheme would operate. Due to this she was unable to clarify whether GPs will require patients to pay any consultation charge before the vaccine is administered.

The HSE plans to set up 60 to 100 mass vaccination clinics once the vaccine is licensed and delivered.

The HSE has also ordered vaccines from another vaccine manufacturer, Baxter. This vaccine has not yet received regulatory approval from the EU but this is expected to happen within days.