Travel
Sites Visit
Goa, Karnataka,
Kerala, Tamil
Nadu, Andhra Pradesh in
South India, Delhi, Rajasthan,
Uttar Pradesh, Himachal
Pradesh in North India, Assam, Bengal,
Sikkim in East India |
| |
UK to confirm first
swine flu human transmission
London: Britain's first human-to-human transmission
of swine flu could be confirmed today. Twenty-four-year-old Graeme Pacitti may
end up being Britain's first case of human-to-human transfer of swine flu. Results
are expected shortly on the health worker's medical condition who fell ill after
coming into contact with Britain's first sufferer Iain Askham, who had just returned
with his wife from their honeymoon in Mexico. Pacitti was initially cleared but
continued to show symptoms and further tests confirmed he was suffering from Type
A flu, the strain that includes swine flu. Meanwhile, the German health ministry
confirmed this morning that a Bavarian woman who has not been to Mexico has been
infected with the virus. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has put the total
confirmed cases worldwide at 331. Human-to-human infection had previously only
been confirmed in Mexico and the US. The British Department of Health has predicted
that up to 1.2 million people could be hospitalised and 750,000 killed if a flu
pandemic sweeps the nation. A draft forecast prepared last September warned that
up to half the British population - or 30 million people - could get influenza
if the bug outbreak turns into a pandemic. The Department of Health document seen
by The Daily Telegraph warns that, during the peak of a flu pandemic, complications
such as pneumonia could mean there are 10 times as many people requiring ventilators
as the NHS can supply. If demand cannot be met, it recommends doctors deny treatment
to the weakest patients so that resources can be shared among the greatest number.
The draft document, which was written in September before the outbreak of swine
flu, acknowledges that its recommendations open "controversial ethical issues"
and could cause anger and violence from relatives of those refused care. -May
1, 2009
| |
|