Thursday, July 2, 2009

UK swine flu cases could hit 100,000 a day

By Stephanie Kennedy in London

Posted 7 hours 31 minutes ago

The British Government has warned the United Kingdom could face more than 100,000 new cases of swine flu a day by the end of August.

British authorities say the rising number of swine flu cases means trying to contain the outbreak is no longer an option, so the response will now move to a new "treatment" phase.

Officials say this does not mean the virus is becoming more deadly, simple that it can no longer be contained in the UK.

Those in close contact with infected people will not be given anti-flu drugs and authorities will not use lab tests to confirm every case.

The Government says vaccines should be available in the UK within two months, with 60 million doses available by the end of next year.

The first doses of a swine flu vaccine have been produced in Europe but the vaccine is still in the experimental stage.

At a plant in Germany, scientists made the vaccine in cell culture, a much faster method than the traditional way of growing it in hens' eggs.

But Novartis says while the vaccine is ready, the first batch will not be used as it was created using the wild type strain of the H1N1 virus.

All large-scale vaccine production around the world will use a slightly modified seed virus.

This was provided by health officials in the United States and is optimised to grow rapidly in hens' eggs.

Now work will focus on creating a vaccine from the seed virus and then clinical trials will be held before it can be distributed.

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