Britain's Swine Flu Epidemic Feeds on Coalition Government Spending Cuts
Politics / NHS Dec 30, 2010 - 11:39 PM GMTThe long dreaded swine flu epidemic is starting to sweep across Britain resulting in NHS critical care hospital beds filling up and some 40 deaths to date of which 36 are as a consequence of H1N1 Swine Flu. The coalition government had cut Labours Swine flu prevention advertising campaign as well as other measures that were directly aimed at preventing a swine flu epidemic.
The last Labour government had been heavily criticized for going overboard on attempting to prevent a swine flu pandemic during the past 2 years which culminated in stocking up with tens of millions of doses of Tamiflu and the creation of National Flu Helpline and website that allowed anyone to self diagnose and easily obtain a course of Tamiflu at the early stages of the illness.
Whilst 40 deaths to date does not match the pandemic worse case scenario's of 65,000 deaths, however the fact that the coalition government has cut the prevention campaign could allow the virus to have reached critical mass where far more deaths are now likely going forward given Government and NHS inaction over prevention during the past 3 months as infection rates have started to snowball by doubling every few days.
Unlike seasonal flu, H1N1 swine flu hits the young the hardest. However, on the positive side, the NHS is able to make available Labours stock pile of Tamiflu from past years and unlike during 2009 a swine flu vaccine now does exist that protects against H1N1 and 2 other flu strains, which therefore means many lives could yet be saved if only people are informed in enough time to take up vaccination.
Unfortunately the vaccination system is reliant on the post code lottery NHS GP System, which means where you live determines whether or not a member of a high risk group will be able to get vaccinated in time due to the wide disparity in health care delivery that is usually masked by official statistics but revealed in independent statistics such as the UK GP Patient Survey (http://results.gp-patient.co.uk/report/main.aspx).
Flu What to do ?
If you are in an high risk group, then at least attempt to get vaccinated.
If you have flu symptoms, call your GP and attempt to get an antiviral such as Tamiflu prescribed, though again you will be at the mercy of the postcode lottery system. Flu tends to last between 10 to 14 days.
Self treatment includes drinking lots of fluids, staying in bed, and over the counter aspirin / ibuprofen can help to reduce symptoms.
By Nadeem Walayat
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