Swine flu infected thousands of children in UK - study
Thursday January 21st, 2010
Only about one in ten of the children infected with swine flu were identified during the peak of the outbreak in Britain last summer, researchers reported today.
As many
as 40 per cent of primary school children in the West Midlands and London
- where outbreaks took place - now have immunity against swine flu, according
to a report in the analysis.
The findings suggest that large numbers of children were exposed to the virus - many getting by with mild forms of flu.
In other regions of England, some nine per cent of children under the age of 15 have acquired immunity.
Researchers said the findings highlighted the way the virus was spread by schools.
It also means the number of infected children was about ten times that identified through doctors' reports and surveillance.
Professor Elizabeth Miller, of the UK Health Protection Agency studied more than 3,000 samples collected by the agency.
In London and the West Midlands, rates of immunity amongst infants, under the age of four, increased from 1.8 per cent to more than 21 per cent by September last year.
By September some 42 per cent of children aged from five to 14 showed immunity and 20 per cent of young people aged 15 to 24.
Professor Miller writes: "Around one child in every three was infected with 2009 pandemic H1N1 in the first wave of infection in regions with a high incidence, ten times more than estimated from clinical surveillance.
"Children have an important role in transmission of influenza and would be a key target group for vaccination both for their protection and for the protection of others through herd immunity."
* Another study published yesterday says the swine flu virus, H1N1, does not cause disease in birds.
The Canadian researchers say their study of chickens and ducks found that none suffered damage from being infected with the virus.
The researchers used the swine flu virus and also the 1918 H1N1 virus that caused the catastrophic pandemic that killed millions.
Researcher Dawn Babiuk, of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency in Winnipeg, said: "Our understanding of exactly how influenza viruses go on to cause pandemics is still limited.
"Although our research indicates that birds are unlikely to have played a part in the spread of the 1918 and latest 2009 H1N1 pandemic viruses, they may well still play a part in future pandemics."
The Lancet on-line January 21 2010
Journal of General Virology February 2010
Tags: Child Health | Flu & Viruses | UK News
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