Few Serious Swine Flu Cases In Lapland

Finland's swine flu epidemic began in Lapland, where it is expected to peak next week and then go into decline. By international comparison, the virulence of the epidemic has been relatively mild. Only around 1% of all people who have come down with an H1N1 infection have been hospitalized, and less than a tenth of those have required intensive care. In other parts of the world a quarter of all serious cases have ended up in intensive care units.

Lapland medical district infectious disease specialist, Dr Markku Broas says that even though the epidemic is at its height, there have been significantly few serious cases seen.

Over the weekend, there were around 20 patients in the Lapland Central Hospital for treatment of swine flu. Only one was in intensive care.

"The epidemic has especially hit people born in the 70s or later. They have better capacity to survive than do the elderly, so there have been fewer difficult cases than during seasonal flu epidemics," says Markku Broas.

The timing of the swine flu epidemic in Rovaniemi is slightly ahead the rest of the province and the rest of the country. It is likely that the epidemic peaked there last week, or will peak this coming week.