Healthy Me - At Home and Away: Shenzhen

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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.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

A(H1N1) closes another school in Hong Kong

06/16/2009 | 11:40 AM

HONG KONG — Another Hong Kong high school is closing for two weeks after a student fell ill with swine flu.

The government confirmed 12 new infections late Monday, including the student. The territory's total is now 104.

A government statement says health officials have yet to determine how the 15-year-old contracted the flu, since she has not traveled overseas recently.

Tang Shiu Kin Victoria Government Secondary School is the second high school in Hong Kong to close for the flu. All primary schools and kindergartens have already suspended classes for two weeks. - AP

From GMANews.tv; see the source article here.

Monday, June 1, 2009

Alarm bells not ringing just yet

Health Minister says no need now for aggressive response

ESTHER NG, estherng@mediacorp.com.sg

EVEN though the risk of exposure to the H1N1 virus is now higher, with four confirmed cases in Singapore, Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan is adamant that there is currently no need for aggressive health measures.

Referring to the quarantine of a hotel and ship — measures taken by Hong Kong and Australia, respectively, he asked: "Is it necessary? Is it scientifically based?"
Instead, Mr Khaw, who was updating the media on Friday on H1N1 developments, called for a "rational and scientific approach to fighting this virus" rather than an "emotional, or worse — politicised approach to this problem — which will cause plenty of inconvenience (and) frighten everybody".

Given the high volume of travellers between Singapore and the United States, more cases are expected to surface in Singapore. Most of the H1N1 cases detected in the region so far have been travellers who had arrived from the US.

Indeed, Mr Khaw urged Singaporeans to be "mentally prepared" that the virus is already in the community. "It doesn't matter whether it's community spread, or imported cases. The key point is the nature of the virus. Is the virus lethal, or just like ordinary influenza virus?"

Unless the virus mutates into a deadly strain, there is no cause for alarm, he said.

"If it can be established scientifically that the virus remains mild here, not unlike seasonal flu, that'll give us confidence to reduce the control measures," he said.
Measures such as contact tracing and home quarantine may then be unnecessary.

Singapore's flu alert level remained at "Yellow" on Friday, but the status will change according to how the virus mutates.

"If you have sufficient scientific evidence to give us the confidence that this is just like seasonal flu, then it will be Green … But if instead, bad luck, the virus mutates in a strange way in Singapore and becomes lethal, then of course it becomes 'Orange'. So we will see," Mr Khaw said.

The Health Minister pointed out that there are Singaporeans with more serious illnesses than H1N1 and the ministry has to prioritise its resources.

"We're Ministry of Health (MOH) for all patients, not just Ministry of Health for H1N1 patients," he said.

General Practitioner Kevin Chua agreed with the Health Minister, saying: "Seasonal flu has killed more people that H1N1. I would encourage people to get their flu shots." He urged Singaporeans to be vigilant about personal hygiene.

Mr Khaw said the Health Ministry would be working with the Genome Institute of Singapore to map out the H1N1 virus from local samples. The study will serve three purposes.

"One, to ascertain that the virus here is identical to what is spreading outside, which I think will definitely be the case, since the cases are all imported," he said.

"The second purpose is to check whether the virus is mutating, which I think is normal for a virus to mutate and evolve. And the third objective is to see how the virus is mutating," he added.

On the four H1N1 cases in Singapore, Mr Khaw said the symptoms have been mild, like most of the cases outside Mexico. The four, who had arrived here on different flights from the US, are being treated in the Communicable Diseases Centre. They are in stable condition and their recovery should be "uneventful", he added.

Meanwhile, MOH is continuing with contact tracing. Of the 122 passengers on the three flights who are close contacts of the latest three confirmed cases, half or 61 passengers entered Singapore. MOH has contacted 18 of them and they have been served home quarantine orders.

Travellers coming to Singapore from affected areas should call 993 if they develop a fever, instead of making their own way to Tan Tock Seng Hospital by public or private transport, said an MOH spokesperson.

From TODAYOnline.com; see the source article here.

Friday, May 29, 2009

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.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

China-made children's products unsafe: state media

Time is GMT + 8 hours
Posted: 28-May-2009 15:18 hrs

A worker stitches teddy bears in a factory in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, Guangdong village, in 2008. Nearly half of the clothing and a third of the furniture made for children in China's top manufacturing province is unsafe, with many products containing harmful chemicals, state media said.

Nearly half of the clothing and a third of the furniture made for children in China's top manufacturing province is unsafe, with many products containing harmful chemicals, state media said.

The discovery was made in an official investigation by authorities in the southern province of Guangdong, the centre of China's manufactured export industry, the China Daily reported.

It said just 53.5 percent of garments surveyed met safety standards, with many containing excess amounts of formaldehyde, a chemical that can cause skin or respiratory infections.

As for children's furniture, 67.7 percent of it was deemed safe, with some of the questionable products containing too much formaldehyde or health-endangering heavy metals including lead, cadmium and chromium.

"The main reason for the excessive content of formaldehyde and heavy metals is the use of substandard raw materials and paints," Lin Ruixi, spokesman for the province's product safety administration, was quoted as saying.

The reputation of China's poorly regulated and corruption-plagued manufacturing industry has been deeply tarnished in recent years by safety scandals involving dangerous foods, toys and other products.

The investigation found that 95 percent of the toys made in Guangdong were safe, the report said.

Millions of toys made in China -- the world's largest producer of toys -- have been recalled globally in recent years amid fears they were made with toxic lead paints or had design flaws. — AFP

From TODAYOnline.com, Health – Thursday, 28-May-2009; see the source article here.