"More Than 100,000 Swine Flu Cases A Day In The UK"

[Tony.London Suburbs]

The number of swine flu cases could reach more than 100,000 per day by the end of next month, Health Secretary Andy Burnham has told the Commons.

The UK has moved past the stage of containing the swine flu outbreak and into the "treatment phase", he said.

100.000 per day??

Er, don't wish to be alarmist but shouldn't we be ever so slightly concerned about this...?

[jimmy two times]

That figure seems to have no basis in fact. There doesn't seem to be that many cases at the moment since the outbreak, so where did they pluck that figure from? Is there some political agenda at work here?

[Tony.London Suburbs]

Very good point Jimmy.

I'll ask my M8 Sherwick to interroggate him about it.

"100,000" "How do you arrive at that figure Andy??" "How? How? How?"

[Tony.London Suburbs]

The viral invader is spreading fast in the Summer heat.

If this trend continues at that current rate of "doubling" each day, the projection is that we will reach 100,000 a day by August. Millions will be affected by Christmas.

Most people who get Swine Flu should not have to come into contact with The Health Service, however.

[EDKiwi]

I also heard that doctors are now diagnosing swine flu themselves rather than waiting for test results which may be skewing the numbers a bit.

I'd be interested to know how many people get plain old 'standard' flu each year, as it stands far more die from that every year than swine flu. Although if it does mutate it could get nasty I 'spose.

[KalamityKel]

DOOMED! WE'RE ALL DOOMED!

Deary me it's the end of the world aint it! *sighs*

[ladida]

I'm just popping out to get some red paint in preparation to paint crosses on folks' front doors.

[RosieH]

I know which of you I'm going to eat first on the morning you all wake up dead

[KalamityKel]

ewwwwwww

[intexasatthe moment]

Beats me how it's possible to give a figure for number of cases .

Latest advice is that

GPs will be able to diagnose swine flu on the basis of symptoms rather than waiting for laboratory testing

and

If you think you have swine flu, stay at home and either check your symptoms using the NHS flu symptom checker, or call 0800 1 513 513.

If you still think you have swine flu, call your local GP. They will be able to diagnose you over the phone. Do not go to the GPs surgery or to the hospital in person.

from http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Swineflu/DG_177918

[nunheadmum]

Yes but the diagnosis of Swine Flu on the symptom checker seemed yesterday to depend on whether or not you've come into contact with a known case. If they're not testing every potential case of flu, how will they then be able to tell if it's swine flu or some other variant? It seems pretty academic anyway at this point - it's flu and the advice to stay off work/school, cover your mouth/nose etc, etc should stand whichever varient you have.

[Andystar]

We had an expert come in & talk to us about swine flu at work, as we deal with loads of swine flu samples & were worried about contracting it ( basically, idiot doctors seem to think that its ok to post leaky samples to us ), the expert told us that this making news as it was out of season, compared to other strains of flu. The mortality rate isnt that high, i was actually surprised at how high the figure was for normal flu deaths. There is alot of background noise, such as other viruses, so its been a lil tricky to diagnose, its been dealt with by the HPA & they have been swamped. Anyway, the big reason for the scare is that it has the potential to mutate & become more lethal. There is alot of scaremongering in the media ( remember SARS, bird flu & africanised bees )

Actually, man-flu is much worse

[bigbadwolf]

I'm suffering from a sinister case of brewers flu at the moment.

[annaj]

basically, idiot doctors seem to think that its ok to post leaky samples to us

Or, sometimes samples break or leak in transit despite the best intentions.

I realise as you must feel anxious about exposure and resent poorly packaged samples, but lets not forget that hospital samples will have already been through their own hospital labs (in my trust we send to our lab with our own paperwork and the samples are checked and posted on from there) so it might be a lab technician whose packaged it for postage. And that the "idiot doctors" are the ones dealing face to face with infected patients not to mention all the other contagious diseases, body fluids and violence we encounter daily.

Back on topic... Cases are increasing, but there is no need to panic. Have a look at the HPA website for up to date information.

[Andystar]

Most of our doctors are private & they really don't take proper precautions, we get samples in food jars (I can not bring myself to ever eat bottled pasta sauce anymore), samples which have not been sealed properly, samples for TB direct from doctors which are in flimsy containers with no high risk stickers on them, samples with the paperwork inside the same bag as the hish risk leaky sample. This happens every day. i've even had a doctor put his name on a pap smear pot because he couldn't be arsed to register his patient properly- result: I had to reject the sample & the patient had to get another pap smear done..As a result of this, i'm definately not a private patient.

[annaj]

That's grim. Out of interest, do you report them?

By sending inappropriate samples with inadequate or wrong labelling they are not just putting you at risk, but also their patients.