02/10/2009

Swine Flu Spreads Across Country

The Department of Health has revealed cases of swine flu are now being reported in all areas of the country.

Twenty-eight people are currently in hospital with the virus, including 10 being treated in intensive care units.

Yesterday, health officials confirmed two more deaths from the virus, bringing the total number of Irish fatalities to four.

A HSE spokesman revealed the news of the two latest deaths at a briefing on Wednesday evening. The spokesman said one woman was from the west of the country and the other from the eastern region.

Both women are believed to have had underlying medical conditions. Their deaths bring the total number of swine flu fatalities in the Republic to four.

The news of the deaths comes within days of Ireland's Food Safety Authority (FSAI) declaring there is no reason for public concern over the discovery of the H1N1 flu virus in a herd of Irish pigs.

However, Department of Health Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr John Devlin, said although incidents of the illness were on the rise people should not be unduly alarmed.

Dr Devlin added that, in the vast majority of cases, the virus was a mild disease with most patients able to care for themselves at home.

Most of the cases being reported in Ireland involve people under the age of 35 and are mild in nature.

Meanwhile today, a 62-year-old woman with "significant" underlying health problems became the tenth person in Scotland to die after contracting swine flu.

The announcement came as it emerged the number of people in Scotland thought to have swine flu has almost doubled in the past week.

(DW/KMcA)

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