UK: Swine flu epidemic fear as hospital admissions soar by 250 per cent in a week

By Jo Macfarlane
Last updated at 9:47 AM on 26th December 2010
Excerpts:

Fears of a swine flu epidemic have grown after figures revealed the number of seriously ill patients being treated in hospital for influenza has surged by 250 per cent in a week in the worst outbreak for 20 years.

Eighteen adults and nine children have died from flu this winter.

Some hospital trusts are starting to cancel operations to leave beds empty to make way for a surge in flu cases, with one leading Department of Health official warning of potential shortages in the antiviral drug Tamiflu.
-snip-
On Friday, the Government confirmed there were 460 patients with suspected or confirmed flu in hos¬pitals across England, compared with 302 on Tuesday and 182 at the end of last week.
-snip-
The Health Protection Agency has said that so far this winter, nine children and 18 adults have died of flu. However, the official figures represent a small proportion of cases being treated in hospital because data is not collected on the number of flu patients on ordinary wards.
-snip-
Experts have warned the situation will get worse. The country’s leading virologist, Professor John Oxford, said: ‘I wish I could be optimistic about this outbreak,
but I have an uneasy, restless feeling.

'Swine flu is the biggest virus on the block and there are plenty of people still to infect.’
-snip-
The NHS in England has about 3,500 critical care beds and some trusts are cancelling operations to make way for a surge in flu cases.
-snip-
Meanwhile, the Department of Health’s chief pharmaceutical officer, Dr Keith Ridge, has warned of potential shortages in the antiviral drug Tamiflu because of the Government’s decision to allow GPs to prescribe the drug to all people with flu-like symptoms, rather than those only in at-risk groups.