Bisulfide

The medical fraternity in the UK is moving from containment phase to treatment phase in dealing with swine flu. This change means that doctors will no longer prescribe anti-viral medicines to the close contacts of those infected. Instead, anti-virals would be available to people displaying symptoms, to contain the spread.

The first swine flu patient in the UK was spotted in Scotland. Scottish Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said that pandemic flu cases throughout the UK have risen significantly in the past few weeks. This alarming rise in cases coupled with instances of community transmission has prompted specialists to step into the treatment phase of dealing with the pandemic.

However, there is no reason to believe that the virus is getting deadlier by the day. It just means that infected cases are more now than they used to be, which calls for a new approach in virus management. An IOSH Managing Safely course will provide you with the knowledge to manage safely and effectively in compliance with both workplace policy and best practice in health and safety, and help you to identify and implement appropriate workplace precautions for specific risks or seek advice on workplace precautions – click on IOSH Managing for more information.

Anti-virals to fight the H1N1 virus will continue to be available to swine flu patients. However, before prescription of anti-virals, doctors should exercise caution, as though people may exhibit symptoms similar to swine flu, not all cases will actually be swine flu. Routine lab testing will not be conducted anymore, instead close inspection with numbers coming in weekly from all regions will be assessed.

According to health secretary for England Andy Burnham, treatment of swine flu patients would be of prime concern from now on. The disease has reached pandemic proportions and by the end of August, Britain could see over 100,000 cases of swine flu reported daily. Burnham further said that containment of the virus for an indefinite period could never have been possible. Therefore, it was only a matter of time before experts moved away from containment to treatment.