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New flu hits Tokyo; infections total 267 in Japan
Thursday 21st May, 05:45 AM JST
TOKYO ?
The first two cases of the new strain of H1N1 influenza were confirmed in Tokyo and nearby on Wednesday, bringing the tally of infections in the country to 267 along with other cases in western Japan. With the flu having now reached Japan?s political and economic center, it is possible it could subsequently spread more rapidly and widely within the country.
A 16-year-old girl in Hachioji, western Tokyo, was diagnosed with the new flu strain after coming back from a visit to New York from May 11 to 18, metropolitan government officials said.
Another student in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, west of Tokyo, has also been confirmed as having the flu, according to Kawasaki city officials.
The two girls are students at the same school in Kawasaki, Senzoku Gakuen High School, and they traveled with four other students and a teacher to attend a United Nations-related event held in New York, the school said.
The student in western Tokyo reported symptoms including fever during the flight back to Japan, but tested negative in a quarantine test at Narita airport on Tuesday.
But after she reached her home in Hachioji she developed a temperature as high as 40 C, prompting her family to report to a call center for a suspected new-flu infections, the metropolitan government officials said.
Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Yoichi Masuzoe told a press conference earlier Wednesday that detailed examinations, called polymerase chain reaction analysis, will continue to be conducted for all those suspected of being infected with the new flu.
The health ministry said later that a total of 24 people were confirmed as being seated close to the two girls during their flight from New York to Narita.
None of them reported flu-like symptoms when they were quarantined at Narita airport. Eight of the 24 have already left Japan on a transit flight. The remaining 16, now in Japan, consist of five Japanese and 11 foreigners. The ministry said health authorities will track the 16 people plus the attending teacher to see if they have developed any health problems.
Meanwhile, a 23-year-old male student at Ritsumeikan University, who lives in Otsu, Shiga Prefecture, was also confirmed as being infected with the new flu virus after visiting Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture, from Friday to Monday, the Shiga prefectural government said.
The case is the first new-flu infection confirmed in Shiga Prefecture as infections had earlier been confirmed only in Hyogo and Osaka prefectures, western Japan.
The private university said it will temporarily close its campus in Kusatsu, Shiga Prefecture, where the student attends classes.
According to the Shiga government, the infected student stayed at the home of relatives in Kobe from Friday, developed a temperature of more than 38 C and a cough on Sunday night, returned to Shiga on Monday morning and attended a morning class on the campus in the city of Kusatsu.
The student, who lives alone in Otsu, saw a doctor Tuesday evening at a hospital run by Otsu city and tested positive in a detailed examination, but he has almost recovered after taking Tamiflu, with his temperature falling to around 36 C, although he remains hospitalized in an Otsu hospital.
??The prefectural government will do everything to prevent the spread of infection,?? Shiga Gov Yukiko Kada told reporters after attending a meeting of its task force in the morning.
Another 29 people were confirmed Wednesday as having the new flu in Osaka and Hyogo prefectures, where the country?s first mass of infections were reported. It included a 25-year-old female medical clerk working at a hospital in Kobe that is designated to diagnose and treat people with infectious diseases, the local authority said.
According to Kobe City Medical Center General Hospital, where the infected female clerk works, the likelihood that the woman contracted the disease from patients is low because she developed flu symptoms on May 13, before the hospital began accepting new-flu patients.
But the center has prohibited visits to inpatients since the woman became infected, it said.
The first domestic infection of the new H1N1 strain of influenza was confirmed Saturday in a high school student in Kobe with no record of recent travel abroad, a week after four people were found on May 9 to have the flu on their arrival at Narita airport from Canada via the United States.
The four?three high school students and a teacher from Osaka?have already been discharged from hospitals in Chiba Prefecture.
As of Wednesday night Japan time, more than 10,400 people in 43 countries and territories were confirmed as having been infected with the new flu, with 83 dead in Mexico, the United States, Canada and Costa Rica. The tally in Japan is the fourth largest in the world.
New flu hits Tokyo; infections total 267 in Japan
Thursday 21st May, 05:45 AM JST
TOKYO ?
The first two cases of the new strain of H1N1 influenza were confirmed in Tokyo and nearby on Wednesday, bringing the tally of infections in the country to 267 along with other cases in western Japan. With the flu having now reached Japan?s political and economic center, it is possible it could subsequently spread more rapidly and widely within the country.
A 16-year-old girl in Hachioji, western Tokyo, was diagnosed with the new flu strain after coming back from a visit to New York from May 11 to 18, metropolitan government officials said.
Another student in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, west of Tokyo, has also been confirmed as having the flu, according to Kawasaki city officials.
The two girls are students at the same school in Kawasaki, Senzoku Gakuen High School, and they traveled with four other students and a teacher to attend a United Nations-related event held in New York, the school said.
The student in western Tokyo reported symptoms including fever during the flight back to Japan, but tested negative in a quarantine test at Narita airport on Tuesday.
But after she reached her home in Hachioji she developed a temperature as high as 40 C, prompting her family to report to a call center for a suspected new-flu infections, the metropolitan government officials said.
Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Yoichi Masuzoe told a press conference earlier Wednesday that detailed examinations, called polymerase chain reaction analysis, will continue to be conducted for all those suspected of being infected with the new flu.
The health ministry said later that a total of 24 people were confirmed as being seated close to the two girls during their flight from New York to Narita.
None of them reported flu-like symptoms when they were quarantined at Narita airport. Eight of the 24 have already left Japan on a transit flight. The remaining 16, now in Japan, consist of five Japanese and 11 foreigners. The ministry said health authorities will track the 16 people plus the attending teacher to see if they have developed any health problems.
Meanwhile, a 23-year-old male student at Ritsumeikan University, who lives in Otsu, Shiga Prefecture, was also confirmed as being infected with the new flu virus after visiting Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture, from Friday to Monday, the Shiga prefectural government said.
The case is the first new-flu infection confirmed in Shiga Prefecture as infections had earlier been confirmed only in Hyogo and Osaka prefectures, western Japan.
The private university said it will temporarily close its campus in Kusatsu, Shiga Prefecture, where the student attends classes.
According to the Shiga government, the infected student stayed at the home of relatives in Kobe from Friday, developed a temperature of more than 38 C and a cough on Sunday night, returned to Shiga on Monday morning and attended a morning class on the campus in the city of Kusatsu.
The student, who lives alone in Otsu, saw a doctor Tuesday evening at a hospital run by Otsu city and tested positive in a detailed examination, but he has almost recovered after taking Tamiflu, with his temperature falling to around 36 C, although he remains hospitalized in an Otsu hospital.
??The prefectural government will do everything to prevent the spread of infection,?? Shiga Gov Yukiko Kada told reporters after attending a meeting of its task force in the morning.
Another 29 people were confirmed Wednesday as having the new flu in Osaka and Hyogo prefectures, where the country?s first mass of infections were reported. It included a 25-year-old female medical clerk working at a hospital in Kobe that is designated to diagnose and treat people with infectious diseases, the local authority said.
According to Kobe City Medical Center General Hospital, where the infected female clerk works, the likelihood that the woman contracted the disease from patients is low because she developed flu symptoms on May 13, before the hospital began accepting new-flu patients.
But the center has prohibited visits to inpatients since the woman became infected, it said.
The first domestic infection of the new H1N1 strain of influenza was confirmed Saturday in a high school student in Kobe with no record of recent travel abroad, a week after four people were found on May 9 to have the flu on their arrival at Narita airport from Canada via the United States.
The four?three high school students and a teacher from Osaka?have already been discharged from hospitals in Chiba Prefecture.
As of Wednesday night Japan time, more than 10,400 people in 43 countries and territories were confirmed as having been infected with the new flu, with 83 dead in Mexico, the United States, Canada and Costa Rica. The tally in Japan is the fourth largest in the world.
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