Polyclinics are seeing unprecedented numbers of influenza patients
By
Salma Khalik, Health Correspondent & Jessica Jaganathan
Patients at Sengkang Polyclinic include many battling the flu. Last week, polyclinics saw a record 22,880 cases of patients with coughs, colds or flare-ups of asthma, an increase attributed to H1N1 spreading rapidly in the community as few are immune to the new bug. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND WEE
THE H1N1 flu bug is spreading like wildfire, more than doubling the number of people down with influenza.
With the outbreak set to peak in the next week or two, polyclinic attendances for upper respiratory tract infections have shot past epidemic levels - pegged at 16,665 cases a week - for the first time in more than three years.
Polyclinic attendances are a yardstick for the number of infectious diseases, such as flu, diarrhoea and conjunctivitis, in the wider community.
As they generally treat about 20 per cent of patients with acute ailments, the national figure would be roughly five times that.
Two weeks ago, attendances for infections of the upper respiratory tract crossed the epidemic threshold, with 18,705 cases. Last week they climbed further, to 22,880 cases.
Read the full story in Thursday's edition of The Straits Times.
