Green Party Health Spokesperson and Dublin Candidate for the European Elections Senator Deirdre de Burca has called for a ‘calm but vigilant’ response by health authorities and members of the public across the EU following the confirmation of a case of swine flu in Spain.

“The confirmation of swine flu in Spain is a very worrying development, but I would urge calm and increased vigilance from Irish health authorities and members of the public.

“The newly detected strain of swine flu usually affects birds and pigs and no known vaccine currently exists. The World Health Organisation has declared a ‘public health emergency of international concern’ but has placed its pandemic crisis alert system on level three and says it needs more information before raising it to level four. Level five signifies a global pandemic is imminent while level six is a declaration that one is already underway.

“The World Health Organisation has asked all countries to ‘increase their surveillance’. This is particularly important within the European Union where a good deal of travel occurs between member states and the risk of possible contagion must be controlled. I think we need to adopt a calm but vigilant response in relation to the monitoring and reporting of any occurrences of flu-like symptoms that are a matter of concern.”

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Press Release by Deirdre