The Scottish couple who were the first in the UK to be diagnosed with swine flu have gone home today, covering their faces so as not to spoil their newspaper deal.
The Chief Medical Officer for England says that they won’t be routinely screening people returning from Mexico, even though that’s where the virus is coming from. This is really quite unacceptable – we’re an island, we can close our borders and isolate ourselves rather than risk letting a virus that we don’t understand take root in the population. Stopping British Airways from continuing its flights to Mexico City would be a good start.
There are now 8 confirmed cases of swine flu in the UK, 2 of which are no longer infected. Most people have little or nothing to fear from swine flu, it’s really just the elderly and infirm and the very young that are at risk and there is plenty of medication available to treat it as long as any epidemic remains manageable. But there is no excuse for sitting back and letting the virus spread whether we’re geared up to cope with it or not.
Technorati Tags: Swine Flu
maybe if we cahnge ‘elderly and infirm and the very young’ to expensive, we will get a better idea?
“it’s really just the elderly and infirm and the very young that are at risk”
That’s not strictly speaking true – seasonal flu attacks the old and very young, whereas newer strains like swine flu tend to attack the under 45’s
I wasn’t referring to the age range the virus targets – we won’t know for a while yet – but the vulnerability factor. If someone has a poor immune system they will be more likely to catch it and find it harder to fight off.
no, i was being cynical in suggesting that if a pensioner, doley or child dies, it will save the governmemt money