A third Irish college in the Donegal Gaeltacht closed today because of further cases of swine flu.
Authorities at the Gael Linn run college at Machaire Rabhartaigh near Gortahork decided today to shut the college following an increase in pupils presenting with symptoms of the pandemic H1N1 flu.
Some 160 students were attending the course which was due to run until Sunday, August 30th.
Irish colleges at Rann na Feirste and Loch an Iúir have already closed due to swine flu outbreaks.
Meanwhile, the numbers of people hospitalised with swine flu across the State has increased over the past week, according to the Department of Health.
Its deputy chief medical officer Dr Eibhlín Connolly told a press briefing at Government Buildings this evening that there are currently 21 people in hospital with swine flu.
At the end of last week a total of 27 people had been hospitalised with the illness since the pandemic began but as of lunchtime yesterday this figure had increased by 23 to 50. Four of those hospitalised in the last week were admitted to intensive care units, she said.
Of those currently in hospital with swine flu four are under 4 years, two are in the 5 to 14 year age group, 13 are in the 15 to 64 years age group and two are over 65 years.
Dr Connolly added that 29 of the 50 people who had been hospitalised to date had recovered and gone home. But one person, 18-year-old Sligo cystic fibrosis sufferer Darina Calpin who contracted swine flu died last week.
About half of the patients who have had to be hospitalised had pre-existing clinical conditions, she said.
Meanwhile the number of people presenting to GPs with influenza like illness has decreased slightly over the past week. Dr Connolly said the consultation rate, which was 35.3 per 100,000 of population last week, stood at 33.1 per 100,000 this week, the equivalent of some 1,456 cases nationally. This indicated flu activity in the community is “stable”, she said.
Some 78.6 per cent of cases seen by GPs were under 35 years of age.
There have been several localised outbreaks at summer schools, not just at Irish colleges in Donegal, and these were managed appropriately, she said.
Meanwhile Dr Kevin Kelleher, head of health protection with the HSE, has said there is no firm date yet for the arrival of swine flu vaccines in Ireland but they were expected in the autumn, subject to licensing and safety checks. He said the best treatment for pandemic flu was to prevent it by vaccination. It was therefore important that everyone availed of the vaccine when offered it.
He also confirmed HSE and Department of Health officials met with the Department of Education yesterday and it was agreed there was no reason schools and third level colleges should not reopen for the new term.
He said the swine flu virus at present was a mild to moderate disease and unless that situation changed there was no reason for schools to remain closed. “There is no need for anybody not to go back to school at the moment,” he stressed, even if they had asthma for example. “A child’s education is very important”.