A leading Northern Ireland GP has warned that we're not out of the woods yet when it comes to the impact that winter illness is having on the health service.
Health officials here say that levels of influenza and Covid-19 remain stable while respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) activity has continued to decrease. But new figures show a total of 69 deaths that mention flu and/or pneumonia on the death certificate were registered here in the past fortnight.
According to the NHS, pneumonia is inflammation of the lungs, usually caused by an infection. Most people get better in two to four weeks, but babies, older people, and people with heart or lung conditions are at risk of getting seriously ill and may need treatment in hospital.
Pneumonia is usually caused by a bacterial or viral infection. You can catch pneumonia from someone who has it, or you can sometimes get it if you have another infection such as flu, Covid or RSV.
In its latest respiratory surveillance report from February 19, the Public Health Agency (PHA) said the number of new influenza episodes remained stable, with 183 identified, down one on the previous week. Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon had the highest influenza rate. The highest RSV episode rate was also in the 0-4 age group and peaked in the Belfast area.
Turning to Covid-19, the number of new episodes decreased to 28 in the past week. The highest episode rate was in the 75+ age group and within Newry, Mourne and Down.
But Dr Ursula Mason, a GP based in Carryduff and Chair of the Royal College of GPs NI, says we should still be on our guard as the impact of winter illness is still being felt across all age groups.
Dr Mason told Belfast Live: "We're still seeing quite a significant number of people presenting with respiratory symptoms and needing treatment in general practice and also patients who are very unwell needing to be referred into a hospital setting for assessment and treatment. There's still quite a lot of circulating bacteria and viruses. It's still winter and we're still seeing the impact of that within the community setting and across all ages.
"While those deaths are quite a significant number it wouldn't be an uncommon thing within a winter setting to see quite a number of people unfortunately die from respiratory illnesses like pneumonia or Covid. It probably signals that we're not out of the woods yet when it comes to the impact that winter illness is having on the health service."
"It's also signifying that lots and lots of people are getting very sick this year where they're needing to go to hospital or dying from these winter viruses and bacterial infections," she added.
"Our message to the public is still to remain vigilant; if you haven't been vaccinated you can still access vaccines; and if you are unwell, try to stay away from family and friends who may be more vulnerable to reduce the risk of spreading infections. All of that advice still stands and even though we're coming into the beginning of March, we're not out of the woods yet when it comes to respiratory infections."
Symptoms of flu
Flu symptoms come on very quickly and can include:
a sudden high temperature an aching body feeling tired or exhausted a dry cough a sore throat a headache difficulty sleeping loss of appetite diarrhoea or tummy pain feeling sick and being sickThe symptoms are similar for children, but they can also get pain in their ear and appear less active.
Symptoms of pneumonia
Symptoms of pneumonia can start suddenly or gradually over a few days.
They include:
a cough – you may cough up yellow or green mucus (phlegm) shortness of breath a high temperature chest pain an aching body feeling very tired loss of appetite making wheezing noises when you breathe – babies may also make grunting noises feeling confused – this is common in older peopleFor all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our daily newsletter here.
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