Swine Flu Today
Diagnosis ‘could have saved girl’
A schoolgirl who died of an infection after being told she had swine flu may have survived if different diagnoses had been made, a coroner has ruled.
But the Coroner for Mid and North Shropshire, John Ellery, said the initial diagnoses given to 16-year-old Charlotte Hartey were “reasonable ones to have made” when she was first taken ill.
A two-day inquest at Shrewsbury Magistrates’ Court was told that Charlotte, from Bronygarth, near Oswestry, Shropshire, succumbed to an “incredibly rare” bacteria which caused tonsillitis and led to bronchial pneumonia.
The inquest heard that the teenager was first triaged over the telephone during last year’s swine flu pandemic and given anti-viral drugs.
A second doctor carried out a home visit two days later and agreed with the diagnosis of swine flu, but also prescribed antibiotics after noticing that Charlotte’s throat was inflamed.
Charlotte was admitted to the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital on July 29 – seven days after being prescribed Tamiflu – when blood tests showed a high white blood cell count.
Mr Ellery, who heard that the hospital trust has since acted on twelve recommendations made by a report into the death, identified significant concerns in the care Charlotte received at the hospital prior to her death on July 31 last year.
Recording a narrative verdict, Mr Ellery said: “It is true that Charlotte died from natural causes, but that would not encapsulate the issues which this inquest has addressed.
“Charlotte was diagnosed with swine flu by telephone on July 22. This diagnosis was confirmed following a home visit by another doctor on July 24.
“The evidence indicated that such diagnoses were reasonable ones to have made at the time, but later investigations indicated that they were probably incorrect.”
Keeping the flu out of your office this season: 3 keys
Year-end is right around the corner for Finance, and the last thing you need is a big chunk of your staff to falling victim to the flu.
So here are some things you can do to make this year’s flu season as painless as possible:
1. Encourage them to get vaccinated … again. This year’s flu vaccine includes protection against three types of influenza – H1N1 (swine flu), H3N2 and a B strain. Many people falsely believe that if they received the H1N1 vaccine last year, they don’t have to get a shot this year. Let them know it’s still important to protect themselves against other strains of flu.
2. Make it easy. If your company offers flu shots onsite, it’s important to bombard workers with constant reminders so they don’t accidentally miss out or forget to get a shot. One way: Frequent e-mails with bold subject lines proclaiming: FRIENDLY REMINDER – FLU SHOT THIS WED.
For employers that offer free or discounted shots offsite, finding a location should be as painless as possible for employees. Best bet: Use a variety of tactics (e-mail, intranet, company bulletin board, etc.) to help people find a convenient spot to go. In addition, there are plenty of websites that will help employees find a location by simply typing in an address or zip code, like this one.
3. Give heroes incentives to stay home. The majority of employees know better than to come into the office when they’re not feeling well. But one flu-stricken worker who decides to tough it out can end up wreaking havoc on the entire office.
One way to prevent this: updating your attendance policy to allow for more sick time during flu season. Also, letting employees work from home until all symptoms subside helps ensure they don’t come back too soon – and get their co-workers sick.
Swine Flu: Are We Being Force-Fed Dangerous Vaccines?
The H1N1 vaccine is included in this years seasonal flu jab along with two other strains. Initially the government’s policy was to only offer the jab to high-risk groups, such as those with long-term illnesses. Of course, there is major concern in the public domain, and patients’ groups have expressed anger over this year’s seasonal flu jab programme because people are unable to opt out of having the swine flu vaccine. There should be a choice!
A recent newspaper article reports that the H1N1 virus killed 14 British healthy children, and caused 70 deaths in children under the age of 16.
Who did the research?
Sir Liam Donaldson, former chief medical officer in the UK, during the wake of the H1N1 scare…
When asked in September last year how dangerous he thought the Swine Flu virus was, Sir Liam answered: ‘It isn’t a killer, but it can kill people… I don’t think we need to fear it, because for many people it will be a mild illness…’
Now it seems his story has changed… The findings of his recent study were published in the journal The Lancet, and support the latest government initiative to have all children vaccinated against H1N1.
Force-feeding dangerous vaccines
The H1N1 vaccine is included in this years seasonal flu jab along with two other strains. Initially the government’s policy was to only offer the jab to high-risk groups, such as those with long-term illnesses.
However, Sir Liam’s research now seems to push the initiative in a new direction, by claiming that children are at greatest risk this winter and should be prioritised in receiving the H1N1 vaccine!
I am so passionate about this contentious topic, that last week, I took part in a radio interview on Talk Radio Europe, along with Prof John Oxford who is a world renowned virologist and very much in favour of this vaccination programme.
In the interview, Prof. Oxford said that the vaccine is perfectly safe and that none of the concerns about its safety, last year, transpired in any way!
Really?
What about the report by the National Coalition of Organized Women (NCOW), presented to the Vaccine Risk and Assessment Working Group (VRAW) in September 2010, stating that as many as 3,587 cases of either miscarriages or still births have been reported by women who received the vaccine when pregnant?
That’s not all, Australian officials were aware of children getting sick with fever, vomiting and convulsions, yet they still encouraged parents with infants, children, and teens to be vaccinated with the H1N1 vaccine.
Then there’s the fact that in August this year, the Finnish Institute of Health (THL) proposed to suspend vaccinations for H1N1 after six children were reported to suffer with neurological side effects after receiving the vaccine — nine more cases are in the process of being confirmed.
In the UK, the vaccine has also been linked to fevers in young children, temporary paralysis and narcolepsy.
In November 2009, in Canada, health authorities called for a withdrawal of 170,000 doses of the vaccine after concerns were expressed about adverse reactions such as immediate anaphylactic reactions, to the vaccine.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), in the UK, received nearly 8,600 suspected adverse reactions to the swine flu jab during the pandemic last winter.
Currently UK government health experts are examining a possible association between the H1N1 swine flu jab and the paralysing nerve disease Guillain-Barre Syndrome.
How then can they claim it’s safe?
Of course, there is major concern in the public domain, and patients’ groups have expressed anger over this year’s seasonal flu jab programme because people are unable to opt out of having the swine flu vaccine.
There should be a choice!
If there was one, the medical authorities would see (as they did last year) that the majority of people will use common sense and not have this fast-tracked, untested and potentially dangerous vaccine. So much so, last year, only 6 per cent of the population in France and Germany took the vaccine and in the UK hospital staff and medical personnel openly refused to take it, because of safety concerns! It doesn’t fill you with confidence when even your own doctor won’t take it!
No one in the medical mainstream has stepped forward with conclusive evidence, meaning comprehensive gold-standard medical trials, to prove the effectiveness and above all the safety of this vaccine.
Instead, we are being fobbed-off with a remark, stating that none of the concerns surrounding the safety of the vaccine transpired.
Does this mean we should risk having a second go this winter, to see if our concerns are realised?