THE RETURN of children to school next week is expected to lead to a greater focus on the rise in reported swine flu cases over recent weeks.
The highest number of these cases have occurred among those under 14 years of age. A network of schools will be monitored by the HSE to keep track of how the virus progresses.
It follows disclosure by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre that during Christmas week (up to St Stephen’s Day), 91 cases of swine flu were detected, more than double the figure for the previous week.
As of December 30th, 36 people with swine flu had to be admitted to hospital, five of them to intensive care.
Some hospitals have introduced visitor restrictions to protect patients from the flu.
Last winter the virus accounted for 98 per cent of flu cases here. The HSE had said it was expected it would continue to circulate again this winter. That has now happened with swine flu predominant among flu viruses in circulation.
It mainly affects younger people and those with pre-existing medical conditions. Pregnant women, particularly those who have become pregnant in the last six to eight weeks, are also particularly at risk, according to the HSE.
People with long-term health conditions, those aged 65 and over and their carers, and healthcare workers are advised to get the vaccine.
The HSE had already decided that pregnant women should be routinely offered seasonal flu vaccine; this began last September.
“Most people who get the flu are able to self-medicate and be looked after at home, with rest and plenty of fluids,” the HSE said. “However, as had been anticipated, this winter some people have been hospitalised as a result of their illness.”
It said the best protection from this virus was the flu vaccine, which this year included the swine flu strain.
It advised anyone who has not had the vaccine, particularly those in the risk categories, to get it. The vaccine is available from GPs.
The HSE said this year a large number of people in Ireland would be immune, “either because they had the virus last year or because they received the vaccine during the swine flu vaccination programme, which ran from November 2009 to March 2010.”
It added that “in particular, the groups most affected by the swine flu virus were widely vaccinated – including children, young people, those with chronic illness and pregnant women”.
Meanwhile, a doctors co-operative in the west says that its telephone service was jammed last week due to the enormous volume of calls from the public immediately after Christmas.
Westdoc says it believes a respiratory illness, rather than swine flu, is the main reason for the calls – the highest number since its establishment eight years ago.
The GP co-operative is the largest in the west, with 170 doctors serving a population of 280,000 in Galway, Mayo and Roscommon. It was initiated in 2002 and has its headquarters in Galway city.
The co-op’s telephone system jammed completely on December 27th and 28th, and it had to appeal to the public not to phone unless there was an emergency.
Westdoc manager Siobhán O’Sullivan said she believed that a respiratory illness had begun to spread in the week before Christmas.
“We have had a lot of patients with viral infections and the symptoms were similar to flu – but only a very small number were flu,” she added. “Our main concern over the new year and into early next week is to ensure that we can reach people who do have a serious emergency.
“The young, the elderly and pregnant women represent a vulnerable grouping that we would be concerned about with any virus, but we would appeal to others to try and cope with self-care in the initial stages – being bed rest, plenty of fluids and paracetamol.
“Also, there is no need for everyone to ring early in the morning, as this is what jams the lines.”
A number of patients had mentioned that they were without water, Ms O’Sullivan added. Large parts of the west have been without water, or with sporadic supply, for the past fortnight.
One of the Westdoc centres did report problems with water, she said.