Stockholm - Anticipating hundreds of thousands of cases of
the (A)H1N1 influenza virus this autumn, Swedish health agencies
Wednesday said they would now focus on reducing the effects of the
pandemic, known as swine flu.
The health care system was to focus testing, treatment and
preventive measures on certain risk groups, including people
suffering from chronic heart or lung disease, pregnant women, and
people infected with the HIV virus or suffering from immune
deficiencies.
Henceforth, only cases treated in hospital or confirmed results
from laboratory tests would need to be reported, the National Board
of Health and Welfare and the Swedish Institute for Infectious
Disease Control said.
Doctors were also to be advised to be more restrictive when
prescribing antiviral medications like Tamiflu. Health workers were
also a targeted group.
Sweden has so far reported 187 confirmed cases.
People with flu symptoms were also to be advised to avoid
contacting the health system unless they belonged to a risk group,
the agencies said.
Researchers commissioned by the agencies recently projected that
some 400,000 of Sweden's 9 million inhabitants could be infected with
the virus this autumn. A worst-case scenario suggested that 5 million
people could be infected.
The agencies were preparing contingency plans for mass
vaccination.
'Such a large vaccination programme has never been conducted in
Sweden before and represents a major challenge,' said Anders Tegnell
of the National Board of Health and Welfare's infectious disease
unit.
USA
Your Talkback on this Story