Swine flu death toll rises to 31

The Prime Minister sought to reassure the public over swine flu today as it emerged at least 31 people in the UK have now died after contracting the virus.

Gordon Brown said the Government was making an "enormous effort" to ensure the UK was prepared for dealing with the flu pandemic.

He insisted "robust plans" were in place to fight the virus, and measures were being taken in a "calm and organised and ordered way".

More than 700 people worldwide are known to have died after getting the virus, which the World Health Organisation says is spreading faster than any previous flu pandemic.

Speaking at his monthly press conference in Downing Street, Mr Brown said: "We are putting in an enormous effort to ensure our country is best prepared to deal with the international pandemic of swine flu.

"We are doing so in a calm and organised and ordered way.

"Cases of swine flu in the UK have so far proved to be generally mild in most people but they have been severe amongst a small minority, mostly where patients have had underlying health problems.

"I want the public to be reassured that we have been preparing for the possibility of a pandemic for a number of years."

Mr Brown added: "Robust plans are in place, the NHS is continuing to cope well thanks to the stirling efforts of its staff, but as swine flu cases have started to increase, we need to be able to give greater numbers of antivirals to greater numbers of people quickly.

"From the end of this week the National Pandemic Flu Service in England will be up and running, it will quickly diagnose people who have swine flu and it will give them the opportunity to get antivirals direct from local centres.

"This, of course, will free up GPs and NHS time."

New figures on the numbers of people attending GP consultations will be released tomorrow, together with the latest death toll and the numbers of people with the virus being treated in hospital.

The latest death linked to swine flu occurred in the West Midlands.

The patient, who has not been identified, tested positive for swine flu but it is currently unclear how much it contributed to their death.

A spokeswoman for NHS West Midlands said today: "It is with sadness that we have to announce that a third person from the West Midlands who had tested positive for H1N1 swine flu has died.

"A post mortem will be carried out to determine the cause of death and until that it is complete no further details will be released."

The pharmaceutical giant GSK, which is supplying vaccine to the UK alongside another company, Baxter, said first batches of its vaccine would not be available until September.

The world's first human trials of a swine flu vaccine have begun in Australia, two biotechnology companies announced earlier today.

Adelaide-based Vaxine began trials on Monday with 300 adult volunteers, while Melbourne's CSL has 240 people enrolled in its seven-month trial, which started today.

Vaxine said it would be six to eight weeks before results would verify whether any vaccine was effective.

"There is no guarantee any of these vaccines will work," he said. "Swine flu is a very peculiar beast, it's a very different virus that we're dealing with. But we are hopeful."

The UK's vaccine contracts with Baxter and GSK are worth £155.4 million over four years.

The actual cost per dose is being kept confidential.

A spokeswoman for Baxter said the company expected to ship the first batches of its swine flu vaccine at the end of July or early August.

"Commercial production on the vaccine began in early June," she said.

"We expect to have a limited quantity of the vaccine for shipment at the end of this month or early August."

Baxter has contracts with five countries including the UK, Ireland and New Zealand.

The Government's Chief Medical Officer for England, Sir Liam Donaldson, has said the first batches of a vaccine should arrive by the end of August.

Health Secretary Andy Burnham has said the UK is at the "front of the queue" for supplies of the vaccine.

The statement from GSK said it was "in active discussions with more than 50 governments of both developed and developing countries for supplies of the vaccine".

So far, GSK has received orders for 195 million doses of the vaccine and first supplies "will be available to governments from September onwards. Shipments are expected in both 2009 and 2010."

The UK Government has ordered up to 132 million doses of the vaccine from both GSK and Baxter.

Around 60 million doses - enough for half the population at two jabs per person - is expected to arrive before the end of the year.

However, there will be a delay between when the first batches arrive and the first jabs are actually given.

A statement from GSK said the company was "making rapid progress" towards producing the vaccine.

Testing of the vaccine would be limited in the early stages but research would continue after it was made available, it added.

"The total population studied in clinical trials will be limited due to the need to provide the vaccine to governments as quickly as possible.

"Additional studies will therefore be required and conducted after the vaccine is made available."

GSK has also increased production levels of its anti-viral Relenza and developed a respirator mask to protect people from inhaling the flu.

The British Medical Association (BMA) insisted today that doctors were not trying to profit from the vaccination programme for swine flu.

The BMA is currently in negotiations with NHS Employers about how any extra costs can be met and at which point GPs stop doing some of their normal workload, for which they are paid according to disease area.

Dr Laurence Buckman, chairman of the BMA's GPs Committee, said: "Clearly a mass vaccination programme would be on a scale much larger than the seasonal flu jab campaign which targets only at risk groups.

"A range of possible options is being discussed and we would hope to have an agreement very soon.

"GPs are not looking to profit from any vaccination programme but would reasonably expect to have any extra costs met, such as bringing in extra staff to administer the vaccine.

"The BMA is also talking to the Government about when they will decide that the number of flu cases being treated by GPs is so great that the less urgent preventative health work that GPs normally do, such as special clinics for diabetes and heart disease, should be suspended.

"When this happens it will be to free up GP time so they can concentrate on dealing with swine flu as well as urgent cases of patients who are ill with things other than swine flu.

"This has been part of the Government's pandemic planning for a number of years.

"The public can be assured that we are doing everything possible to make sure that patients continue to get the best possible treatment whatever their condition or illness."

Yesterday, a 15-year-old girl with underlying medical conditions was revealed as the 30th British victim linked to the outbreak.

She died in the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Glasgow and is the fourth person with swine flu to have died in Scotland.

In a briefing note published late last week, the World Health Organisation said "further spread of the pandemic, within affected countries and to new countries, is considered inevitable".

It said the current pandemic "has spread internationally with unprecedented speed.

"In past pandemics, influenza viruses have needed more than six months to spread as widely as the new H1N1 virus has spread in less than six weeks."

While most people with the virus have only experienced mild symptoms, it is causing complications in some people, especially those with underlying health conditions.

In a normal flu season, around 6,000 to 7,000 people can be expected to die but most of these cases will occur in the very old and frail.

Officials are worried about the present swine flu pandemic as the strain appears to be targeting munch younger age groups.

Swine flu has been shown to be five times more harmful than normal seasonal flu, penetrating deeper into the lungs.

The post-mortem examination results on a six-year-old girl from west London, released yesterday, showed she died of septic shock following a bout of tonsilitis.

Chloe Buckley died on July 9 at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington after suffering from the throat infection, which was caused by streptococcus A bacterium.

It is not clear to what extent swine flu contributed to her death but she is known to have had the virus.

Meanwhile, a post-mortem examination on Bedfordshire GP Michael Day, who died on July 11, showed swine flu was a "significant contributory factor in his death".

Dr Day, who was 64, also suffered a blood clot to the lungs and was known to have heart disease and high blood pressure.