Flu worries continue

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDJan 2 2011

As number of cases of flu rise in the UK, Health Secretary Andrew Lansley is under pressure to strengthen the flu vaccination campaign. He reinstated a public health “Catch It, Bin It, Kill It” advertising campaign after he was warned by government advisers of the need to improve immunization rates which are at their lowest this winter for many years. It had been discontinued despite helping educate the public to adopt good hygiene habits during last year’s H1N1 swine flu epidemic at a cost of just £609,000. There were 12 more deaths in the last week from flu, bringing the total this winter to 39, the Health Protection Agency (HPA) said today. Thirty-six were killed by H1N1 swine flu, which is the most virulent of the two main flu strains currently circulating. The others died after contracting Influenza B, the other strain. All except one of the 39 were under 65 and four were under five.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI), which acts as the government’s advisor on immunization matters, said 16 million Britons are at serious risk from flu. It emphasized that especially vulnerable people should get vaccinated. This includes pregnant women, those with breathing conditions such as asthma, and people with diabetes or heart, liver or kidney disease. The JCVI ruled out the need to add under-fives to the list of those needing routine vaccination, saying there was not enough evidence to justify recommending the move. Chairman Prof Andrew Hall said in a letter to the chief medical officer, that while younger children were suffering from high instances of flu-like illness, many of these were in fact caused by other viruses.

Also severely criticized were Lansley’s plans to restructure the NHS in England. Conservative MP and ex-GP Sarah Wollaston said that they run the risk of ending with the NHS in England being privatized inadvertently. Wollaston, a member of the Commons health select committee, is the first Tory MP to raise such public and serious concerns about the health service shake-up. British Medical Association chairman Dr Hamish Meldrum, the leader of the UK’s doctors agreed with Wollaston saying “She is right. That is our analysis. It brings that reality a lot closer… In the past these providers have tended to be given the most profitable parts of the NHS and left the NHS with the most difficult areas, such as acute and emergency care.”

The rising pressure of flu cases is one of the examples of the stress the NHS has to bear say experts. The number of people receiving critical care in hospital, mainly because their breathing has been badly affected by flu, leapt from 460 to 738 in the last week – a rise of over 50%. The JCVI was in conference with the Department of Health. It said, “It would be hoped that influenza circulation will have subsided within a month. The greatest gain will be achieved in increasing vaccine uptake in the clinical risk groups.” The high risk groups count up to 16 million.

According to Lansley’s Labour counterpart, John Healey, “I welcome Andrew Lansley’s U-turn on the use of a public advertising campaign to help tackle the flu crisis. The health secretary made a serious misjudgement when he axed the annual autumn advertising campaign to help public understanding of this flu and boost vaccinations for those most at risk… At a time when the NHS is stretched and playing catch up, the decision he has taken today is better late than never…With Britain about to go back to school and work after the Christmas and New Year break, I welcome Andrew Lansley’s change of mind on public advertising to back up the efforts of doctors, nurses and midwives to boost flu-jab protection for the groups most at risk and to advise people on how to deal with those in the family who have flu.”