Publication: UN News Centre
Source: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=30638&Cr=swine&Cr1=
People should wash their hands with soap and water, especially after coughing or sneezing as a precaution against influenza A(H1N1) virus 29 April 2009 – Seeing the swine flu virus spread within a raft of countries, the United Nations health agency today raised the international alert to Phase 5 on a six-point scale, signalling an imminent pandemic and urging all countries to intensify preparations.
“This change to a higher alert is a signal to Governments, to ministries of health and other ministries, to the pharmaceutical and the business communities, that certain actions now should be undertaken with extreme urgency,” Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) said in announcing the move during a teleconference with the world press.
“All countries should immediately now activate their pandemic surveillance plans,” she said, calling on all to remain on high alert for clusters of influenza-like illness and pneumonia. Early detection and treatment of cases, and infection controls in all health facilities were also critical, she said.
Alert Phase 5 meant that sustained human to human transmission had been confirmed, with widespread community outbreaks, in at least two countries in one WHO region, she said.
International cooperation was particularly important she maintained, warning that the H1N1 influenza virus has shown its “capacity to spread rapidly to every country in the world.”
She added that she had reached out to donor countries and international organizations to mobilize resources, particularly for developing countries which are usually more vulnerable to the deadliest effects of pandemics.
Fortunately, she said the world is better prepared for an influenza pandemic than any time in history, due to the substantial investments made to prepare for the H5N1 virus, or avian flu. “For the first time in history, we can track the evolution of a pandemic in real time,” she said.
She thanked countries, particularly the United States, Canada and Mexico, for their strong cooperation with WHO since the outbreak became evident.
“New diseases, by definition, are poorly understood, and WHO and health authorities will not have all the answers immediately,” she acknowledged, while vowing, “But we will get them.”
The agency, she pledged, would continue tracking the virus at the epidemiological, clinical and biological levels, and make their information public as soon as it is analyzed.
In an earlier teleconference today, WHO Assistant Director-General Keiji Fukuda said that there has been an increase in lab-confirmed cases – from 79 yesterday to 114 – been reported in Canada, the US, Mexico, Israel, Spain, the United Kingdom and New Zealand.
“It’s clear that the virus is spreading, and we don’t see any evidence of it slowing down at this point,” Mr. Fukuda said
He emphasized that experts are continuing to study the situation and that there are still unanswered questions – for example, it is currently unclear whether people, upon becoming infected, will develop mild or severe illness.
Yesterday, Mr. Fukuda said that WHO is working to facilitate the process needed to develop a vaccine effective against the swine flu virus, which the agency noted could take around 4 to 6 months, plus more months to build up substantial stocks.
Meanwhile, today at the Security Council, which is holding an open debate on the situation of children caught up in armed conflict, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reiterated his call for international unity on the swine flu outbreak.
“This really requires the whole international community’s cooperation, and I count on the leadership and commitment of not only the Council member States, but the whole international community,” he said.
First Influenza A Patient Confirmed Here
Publication: The Korea Times
Source:http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2009/05/196_44227.html
By : Bae Ji-sook
A 51-year-old woman was confirmed to have been contracted with H1N1 Influenza A, formerly known as Swine Flu or Swine Influenza, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Management said Saturday.
South Korea has become the 14th country to officially report a case to the World Health Organization following the United States; Mexico; Austria; Canada; Hong Kong; Denmark; Germany; Israel; Netherlands; New Zealand; Spain; Switzerland; and the United Kingdom. The local health authorities sent her blood sample to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and for conformation.
The patient, identified as a nun who visited Morales of Mexico through April 18 to 25, reported herself to the KCDC Tuesday of high fever and is now hospitalized at a military hospital. Friday, the government said she is well and that she may return to her home in couple of days following the WHO standard.
The woman is also suspected of having transmitted her disease to a second person. Another 44-year-old nun living with her is now suspected of having contracted the influenza virus after picking her up at the airport. Her blood sample is now examined by the U.S. health authorities. If confirmed, it will be the first human-to-human transmission reported here. The KCDC said she, too, is doing well at the hospital.
The Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs raised its alert level and began conducting emergency measures. The government has secured 2.6 million doses of Tamiflu and Relenza, which are said to be the most effective antiviral drugs yet, and is planning to buy 2.5 million units more. All medical facilities in the nation will also be on high alert for another possible influenza patient. The KCDC conducts mini-rapid antigen tests on airplanes arriving from Mexico.
The disease center asked people to pay extra attention on their personal hygiene. ``Please refrain from visiting crowded places and wash your hands as often as possible,'' KCDC official Jeon Byeong-yul said.
According to the U.S. CDC, the influenza is a respiratory disease of pigs triggered by type A influenza viruses that causes regular outbreaks among livestock. People do not normally get it, but human infections can and do happen.
Pork is safe from the disease as meat is okay when cooked over 71 degrees Celsius heat.
In late March and early April 2009, cases of human infection with the viruses were first reported in Southern California and near San Antonio, Texas. It became evident that the disease had started out in Mexico, where thousands of people were infected and more than 150 are presumed to have died from it. The Mexican government acknowledged 16 of it.
Flu death toll 'less than feared'
Publication: BBC News
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8030365.stm
Mexicans are being advised to stay at home during the shutdown
Mexico has revised down the suspected death toll from swine flu from 176 to 101, indicating that the outbreak may not be as bad as was initially feared.
Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova told the BBC that, based on samples tested, the mortality rate was comparable with that of seasonal flu.
Mexico has ordered a five-day shutdown in a bid to contain the virus.
A World Health Organization official said there was no evidence of sustained virus spread outside North America.
WHO Director of Global Alert and Response Dr Michael Ryan said the emergence of more cases in Europe did not mean the WHO would necessarily need to raise its global pandemic alert level.
"I think it would be, at this stage, unwise to suggest that, in any way, those events are out of control or spreading in an uncontrolled fashion," he told a daily press briefing.
"I think the next few days will tell as this develops."
The WHO is sending 2.4m courses of antiviral treatment to 72 nations around the world, Dr Ryan said, among them many developing countries.
The WHO was still trying to establish the severity of the swine flu virus, he added.
Italy reported its first case on Saturday, bringing the number of countries affected to 17.
In Egypt, authorities have begun in earnest the slaughter of more than 300,000 pigs, in what was originally described as a precaution against swine flu.
Officials now say the move is a general health measure aimed at restoring order to Egypt's pig-rearing industry.
Experts say the virus cannot be caught from eating pork and there is no scientific rationale for the cull.
Five countries outside Mexico have confirmed person-to-person transmission.
China is trying to stop the spread of the virus, after getting its first case on Friday.
It says it will quarantine all those who travelled on a flight from Mexico with a man suffering from swine flu.
Flights from Mexico have been suspended, and fellow guests and staff at the Hong Kong hotel where he was staying have been quarantined.
South Korea has also now confirmed a case of the virus.
Risk remains
In cases outside Mexico, the effects do not appear to be severe.
Dr Anne Schuchat, acting deputy director of America's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said that although experts were concerned about the possibility of severe cases, the majority so far had been "mild, self-limited illness".
The new virus lacked the traits that made the 1918 flu pandemic so deadly, another CDC official said.
Mr Cordova appeared to agree, saying that the Mexican authorities may, on reflection, have overestimated the danger.
He said 43.7% of samples from suspected cases so far tested had come back positive, a total of 397. Sixteen in this group had died.
"All the samples that were taken give us an idea of the percentage of the ones testing positive," he said.
"That means that apparently, the rate of attack is not as wide as was thought."
But he stressed that the risk of a rise in infection remains and some elements of the five-day shutdown might be extended.
Restaurants, public buildings and businesses have been closed as Mexico tries to bring the virus under control, and people are being urged to stay at home.
Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard said the emergency measures were bringing results, with the numbers "getting better every day".
There is growing concern about the effect the virus could have on Mexico's economy.
Several US air carriers say they will cut flights to Mexico as demand falls amid concerns over the crisis. Tourism has plummeted since the outbreak was declared a week ago.
My reaction
My reaction: Awareness of the swine-flu disease, together with logical, basics can contain the spreading of the swine-flu virus. Certain actions are necessary: we set the example of clarity.
1) Though the swine-flu disease is not a pandemic at this point, and hopefully will never be, there are basic steps to prevent human-to-human infection. It is not too much to ask of anyone to frequently wash their hands. To clean door handles and other objects that are often touched, is a necessity. It is surprising then that some people refuse to do even those basic precautions.
Now that there are more and smaller outbreaks outside of Mexico, the possibility of the virus spreading further is very high. There is still no need for panic because at present there is a high level of preparedness among the top medical professionals. It is reassuring to know that medical advances have enabled doctors to deal quickly with this kind of outbreak. Information on how to prevent the disease from spreading by taking extra care with hygiene is now also more easily available due to advances in communication technology.
However, questions remain unanswered why some people develop severe illness (and pass away, for instance in Mexico), while the others only develop mild illness (in the U.S.A.) as a result of H1N1 infection.
2) A Mexican national traveling to Hong Kong was the first person infected in Asia. He was taken into quarantine, and fast action by the Hong Kong police seems to have worked in isolating this case. Also, the screening of others who had come in contact with this individual has been done. However, a Korean nun who returned from a visit to Mexico became the first Korean infected person (and second in Asia). A second Korean national who picked up this nun at the airport, is now undergoing tests to check whether she has infection too.
South Korea became the 14th country with infected people in it, after Mexico, U.S.A., Austria, Canada, Hong Kong, Denmark, Germany, Israel, Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland, and the U.K. There are sufficient stocks of medicine available, although these stocks are antiviral drugs. These antiviral drugs have not yet been used against H1N1 virus, which is an animal/human hybrid virus.
Because of the presence of infected people in the above mentioned 14 countries: the effectiveness of the logical approach would warn people to avoid crowded places, to be suspicious of coughing people or animals (though the transmission of the virus from animals to humans has not been proven) and to often wash hands and those things we often touch with our hands.
3) Although it is now confirmed that the disease originated in Mexico, scientists can still not identify the origin of the disease. 177 people (176 Mexicans) have now died from the disease: the number is still much less than the number of people dying from the seasonal flu (about 20,000 a year), though certainly the number of 177 is quite large.
The regional differences that were mentioned before in this blog are now being focused on: why is it that people seem to suffer from a milder type of the disease in the U.S.A., compared to the more dangerous strain in Mexico? This question will be of interest to medical professionals worldwide. We have panic because we are not sure about the specifics of the effects of the H1N1 virus. Panic has a good side and a bad side: it can both alert people and drive them over the edge.
4) A further problem has now come from health official’s reports in Mexico, which show that from the 176 deaths from swine-flu, actually only 101 cases have now been confirmed as caused by swine flu. This is a huge difference, meaning that 75 cases were caused to die from another disease which doctors mistook for swine flu.
This means that swine flu is actually not as dangerous as initially thought; more frightening is the fact that the details of this disease are still unknown. In the meantime, the careful screening of travelers coming from Mexico is compulsory for all countries in the world.
The economic damage caused by the stopping of work for five days in Mexico is huge, though we have to understand the Mexican government’s actions. The risk of a rise in the number of infection remains, though the majority of infected people have only suffered mild effects of the disease.
Conclusion
Conclusion : Although the swine flu outbreak in Mexico, and its following spreading to 14 other countries, has created a nasty shock to the whole world, there are signs that there is no need to overreact.
The most recent information points to the disease not being as dangerous as initially thought.
The swine flu disease will not stop Thais from traveling to those 14 countries, though they should take extra care with hygiene.
In the words of the Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard, we can conclude that: “the emergency measures were bringing results, with the numbers getting better everyday”.
