Swine flu: Brits urged to avoid the US
By politics.co.uk staff
Britons are being urged to postpone non-essential travel to the United States or Mexico by the European Union’s health commissioner, Androulla Vassiliou.
“They should avoid travelling to Mexico or the United States of America unless it is very urgent for them,” she said.
There are no cases of the H1N1 strain of swine flu in the UK so far, but in a statement to the Commons today, health secretary Alan Johnson confirmed 25 people were put under investigation.
Eight did not have swine flu, three require further specialised tests and are in isolation in hospital, and 14 require further investigation.
“It’s too early to say if cases in Mexico and the US will lead to a pandemic,” Mr Johnson said.
“Its important to note that apart from those in Mexico all those affected with the virus have experienced mild symptoms and made a full recovery.”
He continued: “There is understandable trepidation and concern across the world.
“The UK has been preparing for such an occurance for a number of years. The World Health Organisation (Who) has recognised the UK and France are the two best prepared countries in the world.”
Britain has enough anti-virals for 33 million people – roughly half the population.
All NHS organisations have pandemic flu plans in place. The Deptartment of Health is working closely with the NHS to make sure anti-virals can be made available to public very rapidly if the need occurs.
Port health checks have been enhanced. Should the virus start spreading widely, the government will use anti-viral stockpiles for symptomatic patients.
Agreements are in place with manufacturers for a vaccine – but it could take some time as the virus is currently not well understood.
Cases of swine flu are expected to hit the UK in the coming days, however, according to health experts.
World authorities are fighting to limit the effects of the virus, but 103 people have already died in Mexico, where the current outbreak took place, with 1,600 people infected.
“Anyone who has recently traveled to the affected areas and is experiencing influenza like illness should stay at home to limit contact with others, and seek medical advice from a local health professional or by contacting NHS Direct,” a Health Protection Agency (HPA) spokesperson said.
Cases have so far been confirmed in the United States and Canada, and as well as Spain, Israel and New Zealand.
In Mexico the capital has been reduced to a ghost town as people stay indoors following government warnings.
The World Bank has granted Mexico an emergency facility of £140 million to fight the outbreak, while the World Health Organisation has denoted the flu strain as a “public health emergency of international concern”.
