Put away those hankies: Number of cases of flu to hit record LOW

By
Jane Bunce

Last updated at 4:13 PM on 18th February 2012

This winter is set to registered the lowest levels of seasonal flu since records began

Healthy figures: This winter is set to registered the lowest levels of seasonal flu since records began

Just a year after outbreaks of swine flu killed more than 500 people, the country is having a much-needed reprieve from the dreaded winter curse.

The Health Protection Agency (HPA), which monitors outbreaks of influenza during the winter months, has reported a massive drop in seasonal flu compared to previous years.

If the trend continues for the rest of the season, the UK will have experienced its lowest ever level of winter flu infections.

In its last weekly report, the agency
said rates of people visiting their GPs with flu-like symptoms this
winter had fallen to just 15.6 per cent per 100,000 people in England –
around half the rate for normal seasonal activity.

The
rates in Wales and Scotland were even lower, at 9.4 per cent and 13.6
per cent respectively, although Northern Ireland was running at 25.9 per
cent.

Although rates had increased slightly
since the previous week, they ‘remained low’, the HPA said. Levels in
December and January were running at rates more associated with the
summer months.

‘You can never predict what happens with flu – but we were surprised,’ an HPA spokesperson told The Independent.

The swine flu pandemic in 2009 claimed 474 people, while last winter 535 people succumbed. The outbreaks jammed intensive care units and led to a shortage of flu vaccine.

Prepared: Almost three-quarters of pensioners have received the flu jab this year

Prepared: Almost three-quarters of pensioners have had the flu jab this year

Experts have attributed this season’s low rates in part due to the better uptake of the flu jab among vulnerable people. Almost three-quarters of people in England aged 65 or over have received this year’s vaccine, while more than half of people deemed at risk due to other factors such as illness have been vaccinated.

The flu can give rise to life-threatening complications such as bronchitis and pneumonia, particularly in the elderly, asthmatics and others in poor health.

However the drop has been seen mainly in children under the age of five, who do not usually receive the vaccine. Doctors believe this improvement is due to better living conditions.

Douglas Fleming, head of the Royal College of General Practitioners’ flu-monitoring service, said: ‘The rates of nearly all respiratory infections are falling. There is much less smog, there is far less smoking and there is better hygiene. One of the greatest benefits of central heating may have been not the warmth it brings but the constant hot water.’

Influenza occurs most often in winter and usually peaks between December and March in the UK and the rest of the northern hemisphere.

Past flu pandemics have caused disaster on a global scale. The 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic killed up to 40 million people, more than the number who died in the First World War.

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The comments below have been moderated in advance.

Only people I know that have had flu,are people that have being vaccinated!

The common flu kills between 250,000 and 500,000 people worldwide every year.On average 12,000 alone in the UK every year.474 deaths does not make a pandemic.This kind of publicity only serves to spread fear and panic.What we should worry about is that swine flu was most likely man made.

Why should they be shocked. People who are getting the symptoms know its a total waste of time going to the doctors, therefore it is not being notified to the authorities, therefore not reported. ergo. not many reported cases of flu.

Can’t see why they would be so surprised, they are always saying that seasonal flu is linked to very cold, dry weather which we have had little of over the winter (apart from the recent short cold snap). December and January were very mild compared with last year!

Paradoxically I have just had the flu for the first time in my life. I didn’t visit the GP though because… well, I thought we weren’t supposed to and they couldn’t do anything about it, and you were just supposed to wait for your body to fight the virus. I won’t appear on their statistics anyway.

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