Treatment of swine flu and what to do if I think I have swine flu or if one of my family may have it?

With the swine flu pandemic continuing to affect increasing numbers of people across much of the UK, we have pulled together helpful advice and links to further sources of information for parents and families on what to look for and what to do if you suspect that you or your kids may have swine flu.

As the swine flu pandemic runs it course, advice from the government and medical authorities is under continuous review. As a result, we will be updating this page on a regular basis to reflect the latest advice and recommendations.

Last update: Wednesday 22nd July 2009

What to do if I think I have swine flu or if one of my family may have it?

If you or anyone in your family has flu-like symptoms (follow the link below for a list of symptoms of swine flu),the advice is as follows:

• Stay at home (people are most infectious soon after they develop symptoms, but they cease to be a risk once those symptoms have disappeared. The incubation period may be as little as two days)
  
• Do not go to work or school
• DO NOT GO TO YOUR GP OR HOSPITAL
• Either use the "swine flu symptom checker" on the NHS direct website 
• Or phone NHS direct (NHS 24 in Scotland)
• If swine flu is suspected your GP should be informed (again, call them, do not go to the GP surgery or hospital) and he or she will issue a voucher for anti-flu drugs
• The infected person should make arrangements for a friend or family member to collect the anti-virals from a specified collection point

As we are in a holiday period, it is worth noting that a number of airlines are now refusing to allow passengers to board planes if they suspect that the traveller may have swine flu in order to reduce the likelihood of transmission of the virus to passengers and staff.

Treatment of Swine Flu

Two anti-viral drugs are commonly used to treat cases of swine flu - Tamiflu and Relenza. Though they are generally effective at treating swine flu, they are not vaccines and should be administered as early as possible. As with any drug, both Tamiflu and Relenza do have side effects. 

Use of these anti-viral drugs also reduces the likelihood of infected people from passing on the swine flu virus to others.

Since anti-virals are not vaccines, they need to be taken regularly (usually daily) in order to give a person protection. There is therefore little point of using anti-virals as a preventative measure and in any case the side effects and unknown potential effects of long term use of these drugs make their regular use unwise.

Widespread use of these drugs is not planned as there is a risk of the current virus mutating into a form that is resistant to them.

Please note that lab testing, which was performed diagnose cases of swine flu in the early stages of the pandemic are not routinely carried out any more.

It is expected that a National Pandemic Flu Service in England will be launched later this week. Once the service goes live, the recommended procedure to follow if you believe that you or a member of your family has caught swine flu may change. If this is the case, we will update this page accordingly. 

 

For further information on the symptoms of swine flu, how people catch it and how to reduce the likelihood of catching it, please follow the links below.

Further useful information and advice on swine flu:

Swine Flu - Background

What are the symptoms of swine flu?

How do you catch swine flu?

What precautions can I take to avoid catching swine flu?

Advice about Swine Flu for pregnant women

Advice about Swine Flu for businesses and employers (link coming shortly)

 

Useful sources of further information on swine flu

Swine flu Q&A from the BBC news website

Swine flu advice from the NHS