A troubling trend, especially since the vaccine is months away.
The number of people diagnosed with swine flu soared almost sixfold during the course of last week in some parts of England, NHS figures revealed today.
The virus is spreading fast across much of the country and the total of those affected rose by 42% in the seven days up to last Sunday, according to data provided by family doctors.
Information collected by the Royal College of General Practitioners' research and surveillance centre in Birmingham, which monitors communicable and respiratory disease, shows that the rate of people diagnosed with influenza-like illness in the north of England leapt from 6.6 per 100,000 of population during 29 June to 6 July to 37.2 per 100,000 between 6 and 16 July.
