Sign up now for ease of access to The Medical Independent, Ireland’s most frequently published medical newspaper, delivering award-winning news and investigative reporting.
Established in 2010, along with its sister publication The Medical Independent, our stated aim is to investigate and analyse the major issues affecting healthcare and the medical profession in Ireland. The Medical Independent has won a number of awards for its investigative journalism, and its stories are frequently picked up by national digital, broadcast and print media. The Medical Independent is published by GreenCross Publishing.
Address: Top Floor, 111 Rathmines Road Lr, Dublin 6
Tel: 353 (01) 441 0024
GreenCross Publishing is owned by Graham Cooke.
One case of influenza A was detected in this country during the summer, the first influenza surveillance report for the current 2021/22 season shows.
Notified in July, it was confirmed as an imported travel case.
Throughout the last influenza 2020/2021 season, no detected influenza cases acquired in Ireland were reported.
Influenza activity peaked in late December 2019 and decreased significantly in the early months of 2020.
As a result of the pandemic, published Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) surveillance reports began to show a fall off in confirmed cases of influenza, which has continued.
Although described as “moderate”, the previous 2018/2019 influenza season had a significant impact on the Irish health system, with high numbers of influenza detections and high hospitalisation and ICU admission rates. In recent weeks, influenza detections globally had increased although at levels lower than expected for this time of the year.
In Europe, the HPSC report added, influenza activity was at low levels, with both influenza A and B detections reported, predominantly influenza A(H3N2).
Circulation of influenza viruses across Europe was anticipated in the coming weeks/months. Of 41 sentinel GP influenza-like illness and 147 non-sentinel respiratory specimens tested and reported by the National Virus Reference Laboratory (NVRL) during the week 4 to 10 October, all were negative for influenza.
The first surveillance report for the 2021/22 season noted that the influenza-like illness (ILI) rate had been below the baseline threshold (18.1 per 100,000 population) for the past five weeks and there was no evidence of influenza circulating in the community.
As a result, the HPSC stated the weekly flu report would be issued on a fortnightly basis for the coming weeks.
Aside from influenza, however, latest reports from the HPSC found respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) activity in Ireland was at higher levels than usually observed at this time of year.
Rhinovirus/enterovirus positive detections (non-sentinel sources) had increased in September/October 2021, with positivity at 32.7 per cent (48/147) during week 4 to 10 October. Parainfluenza 3 viruses and other respiratory viruses (ORVs) were being detected at lower levels.
The IMO has commenced a ballot of NCHDs on industrial action up to and including strike...
The National Office of Clinical Audit (NOCA) has announced the publication of the National Paediatric Diabetes...
The ICGP is examining alternative pathways for entry into general practice training as part of efforts...
In December, the HSE released part of an external review into the case of 'Brandon', a...
The evidence on doctor burnout “should scare us and concern us”, the Director of the RCSI...
A review of public health governance structures and addressing “longstanding” IT infrastructure...
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.