Minister for Health Mary Harney is “satisfied” the health service is capable of dealing with H1N1 swine flu, which the World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared the first flu pandemic in its member countries for 40 years.
The WHO today raised its pandemic flu alert to phase six on a six-point scale
An influenza pandemic is a worldwide epidemic of a disease that may occur when a new virus against which the human population has no immunity appears, according to the WHO.
The H1N1 strain emerged in April in Mexico and the United States and has spread widely. To date there have been 28,774 infections reported in 74 countries resulting in 144 deaths. However, the number of undetected cases of the virus is likely to run into hundreds of thousands.
A total of 12 cases have been diagnosed in Ireland to date, largely in individuals who had travelled from the United States, and all are said to be recovering well.
In Dublin yesterday evening, Ms Harney said her department was “satisfied that in Ireland we are completely prepared” to handle the virus.
Her colleague, Dr Tony Holohan, chief medical officer at the Department of Health, said it had long been predicted that the WHO would declare the virus a level six pandemic and that the number of cases of the flu identified in Ireland would dictate the response of the health service.
Dr Holohan said that in the national pandemic plan there are four levels, and that it is currently at level two, meaning there is a small number of sporadic cases.
He said the WHO had provided “specific guidance” on the arrangements that need to be put in place and that the National Pandemic Plan had been updated in areas such as monitoring, response levels in the health service and communication with the public and health professionals.
“National pandemic plans in recent yeasrs have been written very much with H5N1 Avian Flu in mind and as you know Avian Flu in humans tends to be more severe and is associated with more significant mortality and morbidity than what we are currently seeing with H1N1,” he said. He added that there was no need to place restrictions on travel.
Prof Bill Hall, chairman of the National Pandemic Influeza Group, said the H1N1 strain was “very clearly a mild respiratory disease” that was similar if not milder than seasonal influenza.
Prof Hall said complications with the virus were largely occuring in individuals who had “underlying conditions” such as heart disease or lung disease.
Dr Kevin Kelleher, head of health protection with the Health Service Executive (HSE), said the HSE now
