Tuesday, February 9, 2010 Previous editions
Saturday, October 24, 2009
UP to 2,000 pregnant women in Ireland could become seriously ill after contracting swine flu this year, a medical expert warned yesterday.
Consultant obstetrician Dr Michael O’Connell said pregnant women who contracted the virus were four times more likely to develop complications including early labour or pneumonia from the virus. "This disorder is serious enough that if you get the serious end of the spectrum it can potentially be fatal," he said.
The Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland is now urging pregnant or breastfeeding women to get vaccinated against the H1N1 virus.
"We are not trying to scaremonger. This is to try to give advice on the best thing to do and our feeling at this stage to prevent this is to take the vaccine," said Dr O’Connell.
As many as 21,000 of the 70,000 pregnant women in Ireland could contract the virus and at least 10% could face hospitalisation, the doctor warned. Dr O’Connell would not give an indication of the number of pregnant women who have been hospitalised but it is understood one critically ill pregnant women is currently on a life support machine. Nine people with swine flu in Ireland have died and another 14 are fighting for their lives in intensive care. The latest person to die after contracting the virus is a 14-year-old boy who had an underlying medical condition. He died in a Dublin hospital.
Dr O’Connell said it was generally agreed that potential complications associated with H1N1 in pregnancy far outweigh any possible risks associated with vaccination in pregnancy. The institute recommends vaccination in pregnancy after 14 weeks and up to six weeks post delivery. Pregnant women with an underlying medical condition are being advised to get vaccinated earlier.
There are two H1N1 vaccines licensed for use in Ireland. Pandemrix is already on the market and Celvapan, which will be available in the future. Dr O’Connell said both vaccines were considered to be equally safe, for use in pregnancy and in the six weeks after delivery.
Meanwhile, the HSE said half of all GPs had received the swine flu vaccine yesterday. The health authority is not specifically targeting children with disabilities in their vaccine programme, like their Northern Ireland counterpart. A HSE spokesperson said their programme was focusing initially on having those under the age of 65 with underlying health conditions vaccinated first and that would cover a lot of young people with disabilities.
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