IRELAND WILL continue to see cases of swine flu at a low level over the summer, but is preparing for an “upswing” in the autumn, the chief medical officer at the Department of Health has said.
Dr Tony Holohan yesterday confirmed the country’s 16th case of swine flu, which was discovered in a seven-year-old girl in Castlebar, Co Mayo.
The child, who is in first class at Breaffy National School, near Castlebar, has not been hospitalised and is responding well to treatment at her home.
She had not contracted the illness in another country.
The 360-pupil school was informed on Thursday evening that there was a suspected case of the influenza A (H1N1) virus in the school, which was confirmed yesterday morning.
Parents of the girl’s classmates were then contacted and told not to bring their children to the school.
The Health Service Executive (HSE) had advised that classes, apart from first class, could continue as normal, but although the school remained open yesterday many parents had taken their children home by lunchtime.
The HSE moved to allay parental concern by stressing that all contacts had been traced.
The girl’s 28 classmates and three adults are being treated with anti-viral drugs, the HSE said.
Dr Holohan said only two of the 16 cases of swine flu so far detected had occurred in people who had not travelled outside the country.
He said protocols put in place by the Department of Health did not require that primary schools at the centre of such cases should close.
“The merits of the individual case are looked at by local public health doctors,” he said.
Speaking on RTÉ radio, he said the virus is easily transmitted, but it is a mild illness in the great majority of people who get it.
“We’ll continue to see cases at a low level over the course of the summer; the likely upswing in this may occur in the autumn and that’s certainly what we are preparing for,” he said.
School principal George Moran said the child involved had been unwell for a number of days and was now being treated in her home “very successfully”.
The confirmation of the virus had met with a mixed reaction from parents, he said, some of whom decided to withdraw their children.
He conceded that the news had “come as a bit of a jolt”, but staff had responded well to the challenge and the Department of Health was very pleased with the protocol being followed.
“You never know what’s around the corner,” Mr Moran said.
“We have a very busy school here on any day but this morning was particularly busy.”