SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT RECLASSIFYING ALL FLU DEATHS AS SWINE FLU DEATHS
01 December 2009
Information requested under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act
2002 reveals that there have been no deaths from seasonal influenza in Scotland
since the start of the H1N1 Swine Flu pandemic according to the government's
official.
At the same time, the Scottish Govenment has said that 48 people have died from
the swine flu, according to a report in The Scotsman:
"Swine flu claims 48th victim in Scotland
Published Date: 01 December 2009
By LYNDSAY MOSS http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/scotland/Swine-flu-claims-48th-victim.5870997.jp
THE death toll linked to swine flu in Scotland has risen to 48, the Scottish Government said yesterday.
Health secretary Nicola Sturgeon confirmed that an adult from the NHS
Ayrshire and Arran Health Board area had died after contracting the H1N1 virus.
The patient had underlying health conditions."
The absence of any deaths attributed to the seasonal flu in Scotland and the
simultaneous jump in deaths attributed to the swine flu will spark fears that
the Scottsh government is deliberately manipulating data to exaggerate the
dangers of the swine flu by reclassifying all seasonal flu deaths as swine flu
deaths in order to be able to better justify a mass swine flu vaccination
campaign.
Many of the suspected swine flu cases have tested negative in the UK with only
about 15,000 cases confirmed in labs according to another Freedom of Information
request.
It, therefore, seems highly unlikely that every single person who has died in
Scotland from the flu so far this year has died from the swine flu while not a
single one has died from the seasonal flu.
This is the FOI request:
Chief Medical Officer and Public Health Directorate
Public Health Division
T: 0131-244 5542 F: 0131-244 2157
E: [email address]
Mr McGillivray
By email to: [FOI #22372 email]
Our ref: FoI/09/01511
17 November 2009
Dear Mr McGillivray
Thank you for your email of 2 November which requested information under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 on the number of deaths from seasonal influenza in Scotland since the start of the H1N1 Swine Flu pandemic. I have been asked to provide a response to the question you have raised.
Thus far this flu season (2009-10), there have been no deaths from seasonal influenza communicated to colleagues in NHS Health Protection Scotland. However, I detail below some of the difficulties that exist around identifying deaths as a result of influenza.
The General Register Office for Scotland (GRO(S)) receives all data held on each death registered in Scotland and this is collated into the GRO(S) Annual Report. From time to time, GRO(S) also compiles reports comparing trends over time. If influenza is recorded at any point on a death certificate this information is counted in these official statistics.
GRO(S) have recently produced a report compiling information on influenza deaths across the period 1990 to the end of the 2008/2009 seasonal flu season, and this is available at: http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/statistics/publications-and-data/increased-winter-mortality/increased-winter-mortality-in-scotland-2008-09.html.
In this report, GRO(S) comment on the difficulty of capturing data on influenza related deaths. In overview, it is likely that to date there has been under-reporting of influenza, which is due to the fact that recording of deaths is often ascribed to a complication of influenza rather than to influenza itself. In many cases, the episode of influenza has passed, and the physician reporting the death may not record this infection on the death certificate. Furthermore a number of experts suggest that stress on the body caused by influenza may precipitate heart attacks, strokes and other conditions in those who are already in poor physical health. It will be these rapidly fatal conditions that appear on the death certificates rather than influenza itself. This may also explain partly the excess winter deaths due to stroke and heart attacks, although other factors such as the cold temperatures may also be attributable. To overcome this difficulty, the GRO(S) report describes excess deaths compared to that expected for each season.
In September this year, the Chief Medical Officer Dr Harry Burns issued a letter to NHS Boards setting out instructions and providing national guidance to those responsible for certifying death certificates. Dr Burns requested that death certificates should record the whole sequence of conditions and events leading up to death, which in future will provide better understanding when establishing the number of deaths where seasonal influenza has been a contributory factor.
If you are unhappy with this response to your request, you may ask us to carry out an internal review, by writing to Dr Kevin Woods, Director General - Health, Floor 1E.07 - St Andrews House, Regent Road, Edinburgh, EH1 3DG. Your request should explain why you wish a review to be carried out, and should be made within 40 working days of receipt of this letter, and we will reply within 20 working days of receipt. If you are not satisfied with the result of the review, you then have the right to make a formal complaint to the Scottish Information Commissioner.
Yours sincerely
RONA WATTERS
Health Protection Team