DOCTORS AT Dublin’s Rotunda Hospital are attempting to contain an outbreak of swine flu, it was confirmed yesterday.
Five patients at the hospital, at different stages of pregnancy, are being treated for the virus.
The hospital’s master, Dr Sam Coulter Smith, said all five women were recovering well and no babies had been infected.
As he renewed appeals to pregnant women to get the seasonal flu vaccine, which this year contains protection against swine flu, it emerged that a pregnant woman transferred from a different maternity hospital was in a serious condition with swine flu at the Mater hospital.
“We would certainly be encouraging all pregnant women to have the seasonal flu vaccine this year even if they got the swine flu vaccine last year . . . the flu vaccine is safe and it will protect you,” he advised.
Dr Coulter Smith said that in a bid to contain the spread of the H1N1 virus the hospital had restricted visiting, cancelled routine gynaecological surgery, and cancelled social events such as a Christmas carol service yesterday and a staff children’s Christmas party.
A special vaccination clinic was also set up in the hospital yesterday to ensure staff were vaccinated.
He said the five patients with swine flu were all isolated in single rooms and the hospital was investigating whether they had the virus on admission or picked it up in hospital. It was possible, he said, that a few patients admitted with it inadvertently passed it on. It is spread through droplets in the air.
“We had outbreaks last year and similar containment measures were put in place at that time and we managed,” he added. He pointed out that for the vast majority of people swine flu is a mild illness but it can be serious and even fatal in some cases. Some 26 people, including a pregnant woman, died from swine flu in the State during the last wave of infection which came to an end earlier this year.
Last weekend the Health Protection Agency in the UK reported there had been 10 deaths from swine flu there over the past six weeks in people under the age of 65 years and rates of infection were increasing.
Dr Darina O’Flanagan, director of the State’s Health Protection Surveillance Centre, said on Sunday flu was at low levels here but the fact that it has been increasing in the UK would indicate that we should be prepared for it to start increasing here too.
She urged all those in at-risk groups to get vaccinated. These include pregnant women and patients with heart problems, diabetes or lung, liver or renal diseases, or those who have weak immune systems, as well as those aged over 65 years.
The HSE said a small number of people had been hospitalised as a result of swine flu. The outbreak at the Rotunda is understood to be the first this winter.
The HSE also said a “reasonable number” of people in Ireland will now be immune to the H1N1 virus, either because they had the virus last year or because they received the vaccine during the national swine flu vaccination programme that ran from November last year to March this year.
Visiting at the Rotunda is restricted to the partner or one nominated visitor of each woman and to the parents of infants in the neonatal unit.
No children should be brought into the hospital. Outpatient clinics continue as normal.