Healthy Me - At Home and Away: Guangdong

Showing posts with label Guangdong. Show all posts

Sunday, June 21, 2009

China closes school as H1N1 flu cases mount

Posted: 22 June 2009 1351 hrs

Children wear protective masks as they play at a kindergarten in Hong Kong.

BEIJING: A school in south China has been closed after 30 students fell ill with H1N1 flu, as the number of cases nationwide increased four-fold in the past two weeks, health authorities said.

The children, all from a primary school in Guangdong province's Dongguan city, fell ill with A(H1N1) flu at the end of last week, the provincial health department said in a statement posted on its website late Sunday.

Authorities closed Shipai Central Primary School for a week, and have quarantined those in close contact with the patients.

The health department said the students' symptoms were mild, but warned the risk of a partial epidemic was looming in the province. Guangdong neighbours Hong Kong, where many schools have been closed following H1N1 flu outbreaks.

"At present, Guangdong is in a situation where both imported and domestic cases, as well as the H1N1 flu and seasonal flu, co-exist," the statement said.

"According to the pattern of the spread of the flu, there is a growing risk of disease outbreaks in more areas of the province, and even of a partial epidemic."

The province has so far reported 111 cases - the largest number in mainland China, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

A total of 414 people have fallen ill with A(H1N1) flu in China, of which nearly 200 have already recovered, the country's health ministry said on its website late Sunday.

This is more than a four-fold increase from two weeks ago, when the country recorded its 100th case. No deaths have been reported.

According to the latest World Health Organisation figures, nearly 44,300 cases of the H1N1 flu have been reported worldwide, with 180 fatalities.
- AFP/yb

From ChannelNewsAsia.com; see the source article here.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Shorter wait for H1N1 test results at TTSH

Channel NewsAsia - Saturday, June 13

Shorter wait for H1N1 test results at TTSH

SINGAPORE: Those who are sent for H1N1 testing at Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) now have a shorter wait for their test results, thanks to laboratory staff who are now working in several shifts round the clock and some newly—acquired equipment.

Waiting for H1N1 test results at TTSH used to take up to 10 hours. This was because once a nose and throat swab sample was tested positive for the H1N1 flu virus, samples were sent to the National Public Health Laboratory for verification. This measure has since been eliminated, as the hospital's results proved it was an unnecessary step.

In addition, because of the sensitive nature of the test for H1N1 flu virus, great care also has to be taken in its execution.

The hospital says samples have to be labelled, packed and transported to the laboratory. Once the samples arrive, they have to be unpacked and checked carefully for correct labelling, and to make sure that the samples are acceptable, before they are keyed into the computer system.

Samples first have to be neutralised to make them safe for the staff to handle, before being manually taken out one by one, and mixed with other reagents. Only then is the batch subjected to the actual test itself.

According to TTSH, it takes about three to four hours to process one sample. But because of the sheer volume of samples tested and the processing work that goes into each test, it usually takes up to five to six hours to obtain results.

To facilitate testing efficiency, TTSH has acquired new equipment capable of conducting a larger volume of tests than could be done manually.

TTSH will also train more staff to conduct the tests, so that there will be enough people to work through the night.

While this does not shorten actual testing time, it means that TTSH is able to conduct a larger volume of tests at one time, 24 hours a day, and thus minimising patients' waiting time.

Senior consultant at the Department of Laboratory Medicine, TTSH, Timothy Barkham, said: "One of the biggest issues has been that we haven't had enough staff to run 24 hours a day. But we're changing that. And that will mean people who previously had to wait for their samples to be run the next morning, are going to have them being run throughout the night."

Dr Barkham added that each test requires careful and particular work. Any mistake can ruin the whole run and the several—hour—long process will have to be repeated.

The molecular tests used at TTSH detect all Influenza A and B flu viruses. The tests were developed in collaboration with researchers such as Li Jingguang who works at TTSH's laboratory under a special Ministry of Health grant to improve Singapore's capability in dealing with respiratory disease outbreaks. TTSH also has been collaborating with Masafumi Inoue from the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology since the SARS outbreak in 2003.

— CNA/yt

From ChannelNewsAsia.com; see the source article here.

Friday, May 29, 2009

Global swine flu death toll mounts - 2

Global swine flu death toll mounts

Time is GMT + 8 hours
Posted: 30-May-2009 03:30 hrs

A security officer wears a mask inside the Sismanoglio hospital in Athens. Health authorities around the world battled Friday to stop the spread of swine flu with schools in Europe closed, while the death toll mounted in Mexico.

Health authorities around the world battled Friday to stop the spread of swine flu with schools in Europe closed, while the death toll mounted in Mexico.

Even US President Barack Obama's visit to France next week was touched by the epidemic when a US official preparing a visit to the Normandy beaches was stricken by the virus and put in isolation. China reported its first case of domestic infection.

Belgian health authorities closed a primary school in a Brussels suburb on Friday after a 10-year boy was found to have the A(H1N1) virus after a trip to the United States.

All pupils in the boy's class and their teachers received treatment, a statement by the government's flu committee said. "All families have been asked to remain at home and monitor the state of their children."

The Belgian action came only a day after the elite Eton private school in Britain, which has educated generations of British prime ministers and royals, was ordered to close for a week after a 13-year-old pupil was confirmed as a swine flu carrier.

Seventeen other new cases were confirmed in Britain, where a total of 203 people have now been infected.

The virus has now killed more than 110 people around the world, according to individual governments. The World Health Organisation said 13,398 people in 48 countries were now infected with hundreds of new cases reported each day.

Mexico's death toll rose by six to 95 on Thursday, while the number of infected cases rose to 4,879, the health ministry said. Venezuela and Paraguay were the latest countries to report cases.

China's health ministry confirmed the first case of swine flu involving a person infected inside the country.

The ministry said a 24-year-old woman in the southern province of Guangdong had been infected after contact with a virus carrier.

The woman works as a make-up artist at a photo studio in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong, and came into contact with the sufferer who was having wedding photos taken at the studio, it said.

The health ministry said the virus carrier was a 28-year-old Chinese-American man employed at a hospital in New York, who had flown to Guangzhou on Sunday.

An American woman sent to France to prepare the US president's visit to D-Day landing beaches next week has been hospitalised with swine flu, French officials said Friday.

"Eleven people who were in close contact with her were given preventive treatment last night and confined to their hotel rooms for 24 hours," said Christian Leyrit, the state representative in the Normandy region.

Leyrit insisted there would be no impact on the D-Day commemorations involving Obama and French President Nicolas Sarkozy on June 6. — AFP

From TODAYOnline.com; see the source article here.

China confirms first case of domestic H1N1 flu case

Posted: 29 May 2009 1641 hrs

A mother puts a face mask on her daughter as they visit Tiananmen Square in Beijing.

BEIJING - China's health ministry confirmed Friday the first case of Influenza A (H1N1) involving a person infected with the virus inside the country.

In an earlier statement, the ministry had identified the patient as a 24-year-old woman in the southern province of Guangdong who had been in close contact with a confirmed carrier of the A(H1N1) virus.

The woman works as a make-up artist at a photo studio in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong, and came in contact with the confirmed case when he and his girlfriend had wedding photos taken Monday and Tuesday, it said.

On Wednesday, she developed a headache and a fever, and after she was hospitalised, Guangzhou health officials identified her as a suspected A(H1N1) flu case before confirming it.

The health ministry said the man she came into contact with was a 28-year-old Chinese-American employed at a hospital in New York, who had flown to Guangzhou Sunday.

Two other suspect cases in Shenzhen, a city near Hong Kong, had also been confirmed, the health ministry said.

- AFP/ir

From ChannelNewsAsia.com; see the source article here.