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The number of swine flu cases could reach more than 100,000 per day by the end of next month, Health Secretary Andy Burnham has told the Commons.


The UK has moved past the stage of containing the swine flu outbreak and into the "treatment phase", he said.


100.000 per day??


Er, don't wish to be alarmist but shouldn't we be ever so slightly concerned about this...?

The viral invader is spreading fast in the Summer heat.


If this trend continues at that current rate of "doubling" each day, the projection is that we will reach 100,000 a day by August. Millions will be affected by Christmas.


Most people who get Swine Flu should not have to come into contact with The Health Service, however.

I also heard that doctors are now diagnosing swine flu themselves rather than waiting for test results which may be skewing the numbers a bit.


I'd be interested to know how many people get plain old 'standard' flu each year, as it stands far more die from that every year than swine flu. Although if it does mutate it could get nasty I 'spose.

Beats me how it's possible to give a figure for number of cases .

Latest advice is that

GPs will be able to diagnose swine flu on the basis of symptoms rather than waiting for laboratory testing

and

If you think you have swine flu, stay at home and either check your symptoms using the NHS flu symptom checker, or call 0800 1 513 513.


If you still think you have swine flu, call your local GP. They will be able to diagnose you over the phone. Do not go to the GPs surgery or to the hospital in person.


from http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Swineflu/DG_177918

Yes but the diagnosis of Swine Flu on the symptom checker seemed yesterday to depend on whether or not you've come into contact with a known case. If they're not testing every potential case of flu, how will they then be able to tell if it's swine flu or some other variant? It seems pretty academic anyway at this point - it's flu and the advice to stay off work/school, cover your mouth/nose etc, etc should stand whichever varient you have.

We had an expert come in & talk to us about swine flu at work, as we deal with loads of swine flu samples & were worried about contracting it ( basically, idiot doctors seem to think that its ok to post leaky samples to us ), the expert told us that this making news as it was out of season, compared to other strains of flu. The mortality rate isnt that high, i was actually surprised at how high the figure was for normal flu deaths. There is alot of background noise, such as other viruses, so its been a lil tricky to diagnose, its been dealt with by the HPA & they have been swamped. Anyway, the big reason for the scare is that it has the potential to mutate & become more lethal. There is alot of scaremongering in the media ( remember SARS, bird flu & africanised bees )


Actually, man-flu is much worse

basically, idiot doctors seem to think that its ok to post leaky samples to us


Or, sometimes samples break or leak in transit despite the best intentions.

I realise as you must feel anxious about exposure and resent poorly packaged samples, but lets not forget that hospital samples will have already been through their own hospital labs (in my trust we send to our lab with our own paperwork and the samples are checked and posted on from there) so it might be a lab technician whose packaged it for postage. And that the "idiot doctors" are the ones dealing face to face with infected patients not to mention all the other contagious diseases, body fluids and violence we encounter daily.


Back on topic... Cases are increasing, but there is no need to panic. Have a look at the HPA website for up to date information.

Most of our doctors are private & they really don't take proper precautions, we get samples in food jars (I can not bring myself to ever eat bottled pasta sauce anymore), samples which have not been sealed properly, samples for TB direct from doctors which are in flimsy containers with no high risk stickers on them, samples with the paperwork inside the same bag as the hish risk leaky sample. This happens every day. i've even had a doctor put his name on a pap smear pot because he couldn't be arsed to register his patient properly- result: I had to reject the sample & the patient had to get another pap smear done..As a result of this, i'm definately not a private patient.

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