Dual track surveillance for RV HAIs
The need is overwhelming
We have made the case for the importance of Respiratory Virus Hospital‑acquired infections (RV HAIs).
We have also looked for public health programmes to address the problem, but came up strangely short.
We find this mystifying, as every winter (at least since 2000), ministers and managers have been jumping up and down, claiming there is a crisis, usually attributed to what they call “flu” (but do not define it). Despite the hand-wringing, they do not seem very keen to find out exactly what goes on every winter.
However, our examination of the available data, which showed a disproportionate focus on bacterial infections, failed to identify any integrated national programme to address RV HAIs, aside from the usual government vaccine commercials. These are strange, too, as they are muted, not as strident or insistent as on government media.
To confirm, we are awaiting responses to our FOI requests to clarify this situation.
Meanwhile, we can start proposing a way to define precisely which b…
