Swine flu slowdown in North Yorkshire (From York Press)
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Swine flu slowdown in North Yorkshire
10:47am Saturday 8th August 2009 in Swine flu
Dr Peter Brambleby, NHS North Yorkshire and York’s director of public health.
THE spread of swine flu has come to a halt in North Yorkshire – but health bosses have warned people across the region not to let their guard down.
Only seven patients have been admitted to York Hospital in the last week suffering from flu-like symptoms, with checks showing that none of them had fallen victim to the virus as national figures show a “significant” easing of its grip.
The number of people coming forward for consultations about flu-like bugs has also shown a two-thirds drop in the last nine days.
But NHS North Yorkshire and York says complacency must be avoided and has increased the number of collection points for antiviral drugs such as Tamiflu to 47, amid fears the arrival of colder autumn weather will cause a swine flu increase.
Since last Thursday, no reported cases of the virus have been reported in the areas covered by Scarborough and North East Yorkshire Healthcare NHS Trust and Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, while two admissions with flu-like symptoms were seen in the Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust area.
“Latest figures show that swine flu activity has declined over the past week, with a 66 per cent fall in the number of consultations for flu-like illnesses in our area,” said Dr Peter Brambleby, NHS North Yorkshire and York’s director of public health.
“However, we should not get complacent. We must continue to promote good hygiene practices such as regular hand-washing and catching and binning used tissues.
“We are working with our partners in health and social care to plan for the possible increase in cases when children return to school in September and the colder weather sets in during the autumn.”
More information about how to get antiviral drugs as well as other swine flu advice is available by phoning the National Pandemic Flu Service on 0800 1513 100 or logging on to www.direct.gov.uk/pandemicflu
