Yesterday in Northern Ireland, St. Ronan’s primary school in Newry was forced to close prematurely for their summer break, after a P2 pupil tested positive for the Swine Flu virus (influenza A (H1N1). The P2 pupil, had just recently returned from a vacation in Mexico with his pre-school brother and Aunt. All 3 patients are believed to have contracted the highly contagious disease and are now undergoing medical treatment. Northern Ireland now has had 32 instances of the outbreak and when coupled with Southern Ireland statistics, leaves a total of 71 Swine Flu confirmed cases on the Island of Ireland.
What is Swine Flu?
H1N1 is a new strain of the common Influenza A virus which is known to be of swine origin. Instances of the disease’s prevalence in humans were first brought to world attention in both Mexico and the United States during March and April of this year. It’s thought that this novel influenza A (H1N1) flu strain is transmitted similarly to seasonal influenza viruses i.e. being in close proximity or contact with infected pigs or contaminated areas. Also, instances of human-to-human transmission have been increasingly documented and form the basis of much of the world-wide pandemic trepidation. Typical Swine Flu symptoms include; fever, coughing, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. In addition, many people also have reported nausea, vomiting and/or diarrhoea.
Pandemic H1N1 concerns
The gravest global concern is the potential of this strain reaching ‘Pandemic’ proportions which would have catastrophic consequences on the world population.
Since the first reported outbreak on April 15 '09 in the US, Swine Flu had swept through 50 US states by June 3. The District of Columbia and Puerto Rico were also reporting human cases of the infection by this stage. Presently, more than 70 countries are now reporting human H1N1 flu infections. However, the number of infected cases has accelerated in recent weeks predominantly by either human travel from infected zones or localized outbreaks without community spread.
On June 11, 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) decided to raise the worldwide pandemic alert level to Phase 6 in direct response to this global advancement of the novel influenza A H1N1. By raising the threshold to Phase 6, WHO, is conceding that a dreaded pandemic of a global magnitude may be imminent. However, the World Health Organisation relayed that only a miniscule number of infections ended in human fatalities, with the vast majority of infected cases recovering quickly according to virologists.
Tamiflu, anti-viral Resistance?
There are world-wide concerns regarding the effective resistance of the recommended anti-viral drug Tamiflu, produced by Swiss pharmaceutical company, Roche Holding AG. This first instance of a human showing resistant to Tamiflu occurred in Denmark a couple of days ago. The effectiveness of any anti-viral drug is dependent on how early it is administered after the original diagnosis. Early human administration helps reduce the onset of the flu symptoms, hence giving the body’s natural defences time to counter act the viral effects.
Paradoxically, as reported in The New York Times, whilst the Danish patient showed signs of resistance to Tamiflu, the administration of a competitor’s drug, Relenza, lead to patient recovery. Incidentally, Relenza is manufactured by the pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline.
An executive of Roche, the Swiss maker of Tamiflu, held a telephone news conference to describe the progress of the Danish patient, who apparently developed the resistant strain while being protectively treated with a low Tamiflu dose because a close contact had the swine flu. Doctors switched treatment to a different but related drug, Relenza, and the patient recovered.
~New York Times (extract)~
In a Northern Ireland context, Health Minister, Michael McGimpsey, moved to allay fears and re-assurance people:
"These are the first cases of swine flu in children in Northern Ireland and I am pleased to hear that their symptoms are mild and both are recovering at home........................... In Northern Ireland, we are well-prepared to deal with a pandemic and have been planning for this situation for many years."
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