Thursday 1 October 2009

Play the Swine Flu Family game


There's a slimmed down version of my swine flu family above (and a larger version on my flickr account here) so I can more easily pose the question: "Who is most at risk?". It's been hard to find answers with the paucity of data on swine flu but they're all likely to catch swine flu - with Betsy aged seven most likely to crop up in the doctor's surgery but that may be down more to worried parents than ill children. Dad is super fit but as we're seeing that's no immunity from swine flu - even the very rare fatal flu. Gran and Grandad might worry you because of their age but as long as they are otherwise healthy the NHS aren't expressing concern unless they are over 65. And Simon at University might be best placed to catch swine flu but it's actually pregnant mum who is the only one of this family who crops up on the NHS "at risk" list. Pregnancy means the immune system is naturally suppressed.


The complete 'at risk' categories are: (Source: NHS)
 •Patients who have had drug treatment for asthma in the past three years

•Pregnant women

•People aged 65 years and older

•Children under five years old

•People with chronic lung disease

•People with chronic heart disease

•People with chronic kidney disease

•People with chronic liver disease

•People with chronic neurological disease

•People with immunosuppression (whether caused by disease or treatment)

•People with diabetes mellitus






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