HEALTH chiefs in the Isle of Man have hit back at claims that there has been an outbreak of Swine Flu in the Island.
Earlier this week the Department of Health issued a media release encouraging local residents to get their flu vaccinations as soon as possible.
isleofman.com alerted the department when we noticed that a number of websites had misconstrued the information and were incorrectly reporting an outbreak of Swine Flu.
The websites concerned included Medimise which ran an article which read: "News just in that there are reports of swine flu on the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea" and Top News which headlined its article with: "Swine Flu cases reported on the Isle of Man."
Director of Public Health, Dr Parameswaran Kishore, has contacted the two websites concerned to put the record straight.
He wrote: "I would like to comment on your news item published on 3 November 2010 headed Swine Flu Cases reported on the Isle of Man.
"The headline gives an erroneous impression that there is an outbreak of Swine Flu (H1N1) in the Isle of Man which is incorrect.
"H1N1 virus has been isolated from influenza cases in several parts of the world including England and Northern Ireland. In the Isle of Man we do not routinely test for the type of virus causing influenza (testing is unnecessary to treat the patient but is purely for research/epidemiology purposes) and there have been no confirmed cases of H1N1 in the Isle of Man recently.
"Since WHO (World Health Organisation) has predicted that H1N1 is likely to be the commonest cause of Seasonal Flu this year and since H1N1 causes severe illness in pregnant women, we decided to highlight these. This is with a view to encouraging people to receive the vaccine.
"I would like to point out that the consultation for flu like illness has gone up in the last week in England, Scotland and Wales. Hence the rise in flu is not unique to the Isle of Man.
"My advice regarding vulnerable groups to receive the flu vaccine is applicable not only to the Isle of Man but applies to the UK as well."
Earlier this week residents in the Island were advised that they are leaving themselves "vulnerable" to illness after poor uptake of the flu vaccination.
