Our flu team has very considerable expertise in influenza, both seasonal  and pandemic, and is the largest single provider of seasonal vaccination in the UK

It was our team that first put forward the connection between seasonal influenza vaccination and pandemic influenza, and that there was a chance that the vaccine would prime the immune system and provide a degree of protection since it was possible that the pandemic virus would contain part of the seasonal virus.

I am pleased to be able to say that it does indeed look as though the seasonal influenza vaccinations we have been providing may indeed offer a degree of protection against the H1N1 swine flu currently in circulation

The feedback we are receiving is that the public are finding it difficult to establish whether the current situation is really serious, or is a creation of the press.  This is often the case with an unexpected serious situation.   The importance of the situation is now beginning to be recognised.

When we were at Phase 4, we had no way of knowing whether that situation would certainly progress to Phase 5 and Phase 6, or go back down to Phase 3.  However, we did know that it was unlikely to go back down to Phase 3 for many weeks even in the best case and was more likely to indeed lead to a pandemic.

Now we are at Phase 5, we can anticipate that a pandemic is pretty well inevitable.  However, we still have no way of knowing how virulent the virus will turn out to be.  It is our belief there is a reasonable chance that the virus will attenuate sufficiently that the seriousness of the illness will be substantially reduced.

It is likely that a pandemic, even if of low virulence, will lead to considerable disruption of services, lead to school closure and to fear of public transport, especially in those whose companies have not provided any antiviral medication to them.

Until the current situation settles down, availability of antiviral medication remains poor and unless you have already secured supplies in advance, there is little you can do to obtain supplies now.  This is because the government has blocked the release of supplies until they have assessed their own requirements.

We can provide recommendations for prevention and containment of influenza in the event of a pandemic.  These include attention to hand washing, not going out in public if you do develop symptoms of flu, early treatment of any complications of influenza with antibiotics and of course the use of antivirals (Tamiflu and Relenza) if available.

In addition, we have pioneered the recommendation of maintaining the office environment at as hot and humid ambient conditions as possible, since those conditions reduce the transmissibility of the virus.

Surgical masks provide some benefits in our view, although the value is limited.  One of the main benefits is the confidence it gives to people to go out in public.

Antiviral medication, if available can be taken in a number of ways for treatment or prophylaxis, and the benefits of each should be considered carefully.

Dr Charles Levinson, CEO, Doctorcall Medical Services Group

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