Both Shropshire and Telford are hotspots for infection from swine flu, Britain’s top GP revealed today – but he urged people across the county not to panic.
Dr Steve Fields said that the county had borne the brunt of the infection in the West Midlands with the highest rate of infection in Telford, closely followed by Shropshire.
Dr Fields, chairman of the Royal College of GPs, said: “The hotspot in Birmingham started in Handsworth and spread through the rest of Birmingham to some degree.
“Now Telford has got the highest rate of influenza-like illnesses in the West Midlands, shortly followed by Shropshire County Primary Care Trust.”
“The figures we have are for influenza-like illnesses which includes people who think they have influenza as well as those who actually have it. There is no cause at all to panic. At the moment the virus is mild.”
He said the outbreak would peak in the autumn and doctors hoped it would remain mild.
Dr Fields’ analysis came as Shropshire’s after-hours medical service revealed it is having to deal with a massive increase in the number of calls from people worried they have swine flu.
Parents of children at Hodnet Primary School, near Market Drayton, have been told the mother of a pupil at the school has confirmed swine flu.
In a letter handed out to parents yesterday, staff at the school informed parents that the pre-school attached to the school would be closed “due to the vulnerable age of the pupils” but the school would remain open.
Several people in Market Drayton are suspected to have contracted swine flu, staff at a town medical practice have revealed.
Bosses at Drayton Medical Practice say they have been inundated with calls but to date there have been no confirmed cases.
Meanwhile, researchers said today the Government needs to adopt more stringent methods of monitoring swine flu to better predict the number of deaths.
Writing in the British Medical Journal, the researchers from Imperial College London said a main source of bias was that many people with swine flu are not visiting their GP and are looking after themselves at home.
By Health Correspondent Dave Morris
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