Large number of "young professionals" getting swine flu is a big mystery The return of swine flu seems to have taken the health authorities by complete surprise – witness the Government's less than elegant U-turn on reinstating the 'Catch it, Bin it, Kill it' advertising campaign.
Numbers of flu victims were rising steadily through the last weeks of 2010. But it isn't just a question of statistics that is now beginning to worry some of Britain's most accomplished virologists – there's also a mystery which could have profound implications beyond the present epidemic.
Some doctors have spotted that an unusual group in the population has been hit particularly hard by the present outbreak. As one senior virologist put it just before Christmas, "They're the aspirational, professional young middle-aged. They're the sort of people who would have probably had the flu jab the last time round – in order to keep on working, come what may."
The question he and colleagues are now urgently asking is whether last year's jab could have made them more vulnerable to this year's attack by the H1N1 swine flu virus.
"The injection last year could have allowed the current strain an ‘easy entry' to the patient's system in this outbreak," my source said. "Of course, this is a very delicate issue – and could have huge implications for the whole national immunisation strategy."
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