Swine flu could affect 33% of NI

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/northern_ireland/8128097.stm

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A third of the population in Northern Ireland could be infected with swine flu in the autumn, the health minister has predicted.

Michael McGimpsey said £53m had already been spent dealing with the disease and that figure was rising.

Mr McGimpsey will attend an emergency meeting of the government's COBRA committee to discuss developments.

He said anti-virals would no longer be prescribed to everyone who has come into contact with an infected person.

"What we're going to be doing from today, is giving antivirals to those people who are sick and not be giving antivirals to those people who are not sick.

"One of the issues has been that throughout the UK, large numbers of people have been getting antivirals who have been perfectly healthy.

"That's bad because it depletes the stocks and it's also is likely to build an immunity."

A total of 33 cases of swine flu - three of them children - have now been confirmed in Northern Ireland.

The children are pupils at St Ronan's Primary School in Newry.