Healthy Me - At Home and Away: Hyōgo Prefecture

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Nine Japanese students test positive for H1N1 flu

A quarantine officer, wearing a protective mask, leaves Narita International Airport in Japan.

TOKYO: Japan said Sunday that nine more high school students had tested positive for H1N1 flu, bringing the total number of domestic infections to 17 amid fears the virus has a foothold in the community.

The latest confirmed cases are all students in Osaka prefecture in western Japan, a health ministry official told AFP.

Eight students had previously tested positive in Kobe, in the adjoining prefecture of Hyogo.

"We've confirmed a total of nine new cases in Osaka prefecture, and are in the process of testing one more case," the official said, adding work was ongoing to gather information on the route of the infection through interviews with doctors and families of the patients.

The new cases come as the World Health Organisation (WHO) said Saturday it is closely monitoring H1N1 flu in Japan after officials ordered schools closed and cancelled events in Kobe.

A local official in Osaka said: "So far we can't find clear records of contacts with students in Osaka and students in Kobe, and they have not travelled abroad recently."

In Osaka, about 100 more high school students who had displayed suspicious symptoms such as fever are to be tested, officials said.

Meanwhile seven more people are suspected to be infected with H1N1 flu in Hyogo prefecture, officials said.

These people - a teacher, a university student and five high school students - had recently had contact with one of the students in Kobe who tested positive, public broadcaster NHK reported.

Masato Tashiro, a Japanese virologist who is in Geneva as a member of the WHO's panel on the epidemic, told public broadcaster NHK: "I don't know specifics about the cases (in Japan) but judging from confirmed cases the infection is likely to be spreading to hundreds of people."

"There must be a number of people who slipped through border controls (at airports) as their symptoms were quite light, passing the virus to other people before they knew it," he said.

Prime Minister Taro Aso has called on the country to keep calm.

But former WHO senior official Shigeru Omi, now head of the government's special H1N1 flu task force, warned that "we believe that the infection is beginning to spread in the region."

Japan on May 9 confirmed its first A(H1N1) cases contracted overseas - a school teacher and three students who flew to Tokyo from Canada via Detroit - but immediately quarantined them and other passengers.

All four have since recovered.

- AFP/yb

From ChannelNewsAsia.com; see the source article here.

Japan confirms 20 more H1N1 flu cases, total at 32

Medical staff treat patients at a hospital in Kobe

KOBE, Japan: Japan said Sunday that 20 more people had tested positive for H1N1 flu, bringing the total number of cases to 32 amid fears the virus has a foothold in the west of the country.

The latest group of flu sufferers included 18 high school students in Osaka prefecture and the city of Kobe in neighbouring Hyogo prefecture, where eight students were already ill from the virus, a health ministry official told AFP.

A college student in his 20s and a teacher in his 40s, both in Kobe, also tested positive for A(H1N1) influenza, he said.

"Now the number of cases of domestic infection has risen to 28," the official said.

Four other Japanese -- a school teacher and three students who flew to Tokyo from Canada via Detroit -- contracted the virus overseas earlier this month and have since recovered.

"We quickly need to collect information on the current infection," said Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura, the top government spokesman.

"We are studying how to prevent the spread of infection," Kawamura told reporters, adding that the cabinet would hold an emergency meeting on Monday to discuss the issue.

Prime Minister Taro Aso has called on the country to remain calm.

But Shigeru Omi, a former senior official at the World Health Organization who is now head of the government's special H1N1 flu task force, warned: "We believe that the infection is beginning to spread in the region."

The WHO said Saturday it was closely monitoring the H1N1 flu situation in Japan after officials shut down schools and cancelled public events in Kobe, where people with flu symptoms were seeking treatment at local hospitals.

"I had never dreamed that the new type flu outbreak would happen in my city," said Seiji Koga, a 62-year-old construction company worker. "Since we can't move away, we have to spend restless days for now."

About 100 more high school students in Osaka and seven people in Hyogo prefecture who had displayed suspicious symptoms were to be tested, officials said.

"So far we can't find clear records of contacts with students in Osaka and students in Kobe, and they have not travelled abroad recently," said one local official in Osaka.

The seven people in Hyogo -- a teacher, a university student and five high school students -- had recently had contact with one of the students in Kobe who tested positive, public broadcaster NHK reported.

Masato Tashiro, a Japanese virologist who serves on an WHO panel on the epidemic, told public broadcaster NHK: "I don't know specifics about the cases (in Japan) but judging from confirmed cases the infection is likely to be spreading to hundreds of people."

"There must be a number of people who slipped through border controls (at airports) as their symptoms were quite light, passing the virus to other people before they knew it," he said.

- AFP/yt

From ChannelNewsAsia.com; see the source article here.

----------
Is total protection available?