Information about Swine Flu - Influenza A (H1N1)
The National Pandemic Flu Service (NPFS) is now in operation in England. This is a service set up to try to relieve pressure on NHS Direct and GPs, who have seen a huge surge in the number of flu-related calls and consultations.
The pandemic alert phase, as declared by the World Health Organisation (WHO),remains at Phase 6. This means that the H1N1 (swine flu) virus has now spread across the globe; however, this change does not mean that the virus is any more dangerous, but that it is now widespread across countries and is likely to be spread further. The H1N1 (swine flu) virus is not causing significant clinical illness and its effects are similar to normal ‘seasonal’ flu.
The council, along with our partners in the health service, is continuing to monitor the situation for developments so that we can respond to them if need be.
Information is available from the following websites:
What measures can I take to protect against infection?
General infection control practices and good respiratory hand hygiene can help to reduce transmission of all viruses, including the human swine influenza. This includes:
- Covering your nose and mouth when coughing or sneezing, using a tissue when possible
Disposing of dirty tissues promptly and carefully - Maintaining good basic hygiene, for example washing hands frequently with soap and water to reduce the spread of the virus from your hands to face or to other people
- Cleaning hard surfaces (e.g. door handles) frequently using a normal cleaning product
- Making sure your children follow this advice
What should I do if I think I have swine flu?
If you experience a sudden fever, cough or shortness of breath or have a headache, sore throat, tiredness, aching muscles, chills, sneezing, runny nose or loss of appetite you may have swine flu. For most people this is a mild illness and you should start to feel better after a few days.
Help yourself and others by not spreading the virus. The best thing you can do is stay at home, rest, drink plenty of fluids and take over-the-counter flu remedies to help relieve the symptoms.
You can check your symptoms online at http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/
If you do not have access to the internet, or are still concerned, you can ring the National Pandemic Flu Service on 0800 1513 100.
You can also log onto the website at http://www.direct.gov.uk/pandemicflu. The service uses a simple checklist to diagnose whether you have swine flu.
If it is thought you have swine flu then the NPFS can give you access to free anti-viral drugs if necessary. You will be given a voucher number and asked to arrange for a 'flu friend' - a friend or family member who does not have swine flu - to pick up your anti-viral drugs from a distribution point.
Certain groups are advised to contact their doctor rather than use the National Pandemic Influenza Service; these are: people with serious underlying health conditions, pregnant women, children under one or children whose condition suddenly gets worse and those whose condition is still getting worse after 7 days (5 days for a child).
Children and young people
We will keep you updated on the status of our schools through this site. For information on the status of children's centres and related services within South Gloucestershire we will keep you updated through this site. We have also updated our school closures plan.
Following advice from South Gloucestershire PCT and the Health Protection Agency, in the event of suspected or confirmed cases of Swine Flu, schools will remain open and operating as usual. This is in line with updated national guidance, which also recommends that preventative antiviral drugs are no longer routinely offered to large groups of school pupils.
This approach has been adopted because as Swine Flu starts to circulate more freely in the local community, people may be exposed the virus outside school, or as soon as they have finished a course of drugs.
The most important advice we have been given is that children who have symptoms of flu-like illness should stay away from school/pre-school until they have recovered and are free of symptoms. This is to avoid spreading the infection as much as possible. Any child however, that is healthy and has no symptoms, should attend school as normal.
If your doctor does advise anti-viral treatment for a child, please let the school know as soon as possible.