Swine flu update: Government changes strategy from containment to outbreak management

June 25, 2009 by srrpenna

Speaking this morning, Andy Burnham, the Health Secretary, and Sir Liam Donaldson, the Chief Medical Officer, said that there were hotspots where swabbing and lab confirmations of the virus now put an unjustifiable strain on time and resources. These areas, including the West Midlands and London, are now shifting from the containment phase, which is led by the Health Protection Agency, to outbreak management, led by the strategic health authorities and local health trusts.

Mr Burnham said that, as of this morning, there were 3,597 lab-confirmed cases of swine flu in the UK.”The vast majority of these cases have shown only mild symptoms, though some cases have been more serious,” he said.”Our approach has focused on containing the spread and working with the local NHS to identify cases and isolate them as quickly as possible and treat them with antivirals and treat those around them and offer prophylactic treatment to those around them.”This is very resource-intensive, but it has been highly successful.”

However, he added that the containment strategy remained in place and outbreak management allowed for flexibility in how different areas of the country dealt with the varying severity of the virus’s spread. As part of the outbreak management phase, cases of swine flu are determined by clinical diagnosis rather than lab confirmation. Sir Liam Donaldson said that, in this scenario, it may be a better strategy to allow some people to treat themselves leave some those with mild symptoms to get through the virus with Paracetamol.

The secretary of state also confirmed that the first of the 60 million doses of the vaccine ordered are expected to arrive by late August and that contracts had now been signed with GlaxoSmithKline and Baxter to secure enough vaccine for the whole population.

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