News Archives |
Volume 3 No 34; 28 August 2009
Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 influenza: UK situation at 27 August 2009
The HPA Weekly National Influenza Report of 27 August 2009 (week 35) [1] has summarised the UK (and international) situation as follows:
- Pandemic influenza activity continued to decrease across most regions of the UK and in all age groups, while remaining at levels higher than expected for the time of year;
- In week 34 (week ending 23 August), the GP consultation rates decreased in England and Wales remaining below the normal winter seasonal baseline thresholds. In Northern Ireland the rate decreased (thresholds not set in NI) and the rate in Scotland increased slightly though remained below the baseline level;
- The National Pandemic Flu Service (NPFS) continued to issue antiviral drugs to people in England with an influenza-like illness who called or logged on to the internet site. There was a general decrease in the number of assessments, and antiviral collections, over the previous week;
- Interpretation of data to produce estimates on the number of new cases continued to be subject to a considerable amount of uncertainty with the move to NPFS. HPA modelling gave an estimate of 5000 (range 3000 – 12, 000) new cases in England in week 34 compared to an estimated 11,000 (range 6000 – 25, 000) cases in the previous week. The estimated number of new cases had decreased in all regions and age groups;
- The main influenza virus circulating in the UK continued to be the pandemic (H1N1) 2009 strain, with few influenza H1 (non-pandemic), H3 and B viruses detected through sentinel and non-sentinel surveillance. At 27 August 2009, in the UK, no pandemic viruses had been found to be resistant to the antiviral drugs oseltamivir or zanamivir;
- The majority of pandemic influenza cases continued to be mild. The cumulative number of deaths reported due to pandemic (H1N1) 2009 in the UK was 65. A total of 413 new patients were hospitalised with suspected pandemic influenza in week 34 (up to 8am Monday 24 August); a decrease of 196 from the previous week. The highest hospitalisation rates have consistently been in the under-5-year age group. Hospitalisation rates decreased over the previous week in all age groups;
- According to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), by 25 August, 254,947 laboratory confirmed cases of pandemic influenza (H1N1) had been reported globally with 2594 deaths. In week 33 Ireland and Northern Ireland reported medium levels of influenza activity while all other European countries reported low levels.
Reference
1. HPA Weekly National Influenza Report: week 35 (27 August 2009, PDF 108 KB), HPA website: www.hpa.org.uk/swineflu/surveillance&epidemiology.