Swine flu spreads in Asia, nations ill-prepared to

Swine flu spreads in Asia, nations ill-prepared to protect citizens

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009\05\22\story_22-5-2009_pg4_4

* New cases in Japan, China, Australia, Chile
* WHO might declare global pandemic alert

TOKYO: The spread of the new H1N1 virus in Asia showed no signs of slowing on Thursday as new infections were confirmed in Tokyo and Beijing.

While the virus has killed nobody so far in Asia, its grip appeared to tighten on a region that has battled the H5N1 bird flu virus and SARS over the past 10 years. Japan reported 272 confirmed infections by midday on Thursday, including a 16-year-old female high school student in Tokyo who had recently returned from New York. About 4,500 schools, mostly in the western prefectures of Osaka and Hyogo have closed their doors until the end of the week.

The local government in neighbouring Shiga prefecture, which also confirmed its first case on Wednesday, was also urging its schools to follow suit. In China, authorities confirmed a second case of H1N1 in Beijing, a 21-year-old Chinese-Canadian student. This case would be the fifth nationwide, but officials said the other patients have either been given a clean bill of health or are recovering.

There was also a jump in infections in Australia, which confirmed its sixth case, a Mexican woman who tested positive for the virus while visiting the country. Elsewhere, Chile has become one of the most affected countries in South America. Sixteen children and adults have tested positive for the H1N1 virus and the number will most probably continue to grow, Health Minister Alvaro Erazo said on Wednesday.

Margaret Chan, head of the World Health Organisation, said on Thursday she would not hesitate to raise the global pandemic alert to the top of the six-point scale if the H1N1 flu is spreading globally. “When I see more signals coming from the virus itself or the spread of the disease, including severity, I would not shy away from making a very difficult decision,” she said, adding that health experts are now monitoring carefully for signs the virus has taken hold in the southern hemisphere.

However, this new virus appears to be mild so far. Japanese Health Minister Yoichi Masuzoe said on Wednesday a study on 43 cases in Kobe city in Hyogo prefecture suggested it was behaving like seasonal flu, and not everyone affected needed hospitalisation. Japan is also considering drawing up new plans to deal with the disease, including winding down strict health checks at international airports at the end of the week, which had been imposed to try to buy time before an outbreak in the country.

In Afghanistan, a medical centre has been set up at Kabul airport to deal with possible cases, but the country cannot afford temperature screening equipment and relies on other countries to scan outbound passengers. The World Health Organisation has donated $500,000 worth of the antiviral drug Tamiflu, still effective in fighting the new virus. That amount, however, covers only 30,360 people - a mere fraction in a country of 26 million people.

Indonesia maintains a stockpile of 3 million Tamiflu capsules, enough only for 300,000 people in a population of 226 million. reuters