We have highest European level of swine flu

Ireland, along with Iceland, has the highest intensity of swine flu infection in Europe, according to statistics from a major European disease monitoring body.

The European figures have been produced as it was revealed yesterday that there were 30,000 new H1N1 cases in Ireland last week.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), in its latest survey of H1N1 incidence around Europe, puts Ireland and Iceland in the "very high" category for the intensity of their swine flu incidence.

The ECDC categorises "very high" in terms of swine flu, as "particularly severe levels of influenza activity."

A map produced by the ECDC shows Ireland and Iceland as the only two countries in the "red" very high intensity category.

Ireland's Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) told irishhealth.com that the map which puts Ireland at the top of the swine flu incidence table is produced regularly by the ECDC as part of their ongoing surveillance, and as such is a "snapshot" in time.

The HPSC says the ECDC figure refers to previous Irish figures for the week before last, when the influenza rate reached a record 210 per 100,000 population. Figures produced yesterday showed that our figures were still high, but had dropped to 178.5.

The Department of Health indicated however, that the latest rate may have been temporarily dipped due to that week including a bank holiday and by the fact that many children were on their mid-term break from school.

Therefore, even with this slight drop , Ireland would still have one of the the highest intensities of swine flu incidence in Europe.

The European map shows that Sweden has the next highest H1N1 intensity after Ireland and Iceland, while the UK is in the lower level "medium" intensity category. Finland and France are lisited as having no reports avaialble of swine flu incidence.

Another European survey published by the ECDC shows that Ireland also has one of the highest geographic spreads of swine flu in Europe.

Ireland, along with countries such as the Netherlands, the UK and Spain, has influenza activity above baseline levels in one or more regions in terms of laboratory-confirmed cases.

The HPSC said the increasing numbers of cases of influenza in Ireland were to be expected given the nature of a pandemic.

The HPSC said other countries, such as Australia and New Zealand, had much higher levels of influenza activity during their winter (and our summer) season, and are now seeing the reductions in case numbers as expected.

It added that vaccination against swine flu is the most important preventive measure in protecing people against the virus.

View our swine flu Q&A here

View the HSE's swinbe flu information here

[Posted: Fri 06/11/2009]