Caution Urged On Anti Swine Flu Drug

Antiviral use is escalating across Northern Ireland,

In spite of NI continuing to be the area least badly hit by swine flu, it has emerged that in excess of 5,000 courses of antiviral drugs were issued to people suspected of having swine flu last month.

This is even though there are official concerns that the virus may develop resistance and so reduce the level of protection the specialist treatment allows.

The new figures show the scale of the pandemic facing health workers in the Province and how, in a space of days, demand for the drugs massively escalated.

Although some of those will not have had the virus – as individuals are no longer tested for it – things are escalating fast.

In the first week of July, just 138 courses were prescribed, rising to 569 courses the following week.

But by the third week of the month, 2,108 courses of the drug were issued, a figure which then increased slightly in the final week of July to 2,201.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (DHSSPS) has cautioned against over use: "For many people, the symptoms of swine flu can be treated in the same way as a normal cold or seasonal flu...widespread use of antivirals also runs the risk of the virus developing resistance and so reducing the level of protection this treatment gives."

Meanwhile, emergency legislation is now being rushed through the Stormont Assembly during the summer recess to relax rules on pharmacies dispensing in public places in the event of the pandemic requiring mass vaccinations or pharmacies being overwhelmed with demand for anti-viral drugs.

Chairman of the Assembly's Health Committee, Jim Wells, said that he hoped the legislation, which, as it is uncontentious, will not need to go before the entire Assembly – would never have to be used but that it was responsible to prepare for the worst.

See: Further Swine Flu Cases Confirmed

(BMcC/KMcA)