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Japan Mask Wearing, Tamiflu Rush Beat Back Swine Flu Threat By Kanoko Matsuyama and Jason Gale
Dec. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Eight hours after Tokyo office worker Shungo Yamamoto started feeling feverish and faint, he got a diagnosis of swine flu, received antiviral drugs and embarked on three days of self-imposed isolation last month.
?I knew it was influenza immediately? because of the fever and joint pain, Yamamoto, 25, said. His doctor confirmed the diagnosis with a nose swab test and prescribed five days of Roche Holding AG?s antiviral drug Tamiflu. When he left the doctor?s office, Yamamoto put on a mask, bought a three-day supply of food, rented DVDs and headed home, where he stayed for the duration of his illness.
Japan?s aggressiveness against H1N1 influenza, the result of hygiene standards, social etiquette and a willingness to test and medicate immediately, means the country has fared better than the U.S. or the U.K. in battling the first pandemic in 41 years. A World Health Organization report shows Japan?s mortality rate is 2 deaths for every 100,000 people. The rate is higher by 11 times in the U.K., 16 times in the U.S. and 43 times in Australia.
?No doctor in Japan would tell a flu patient just to go home and sleep it off,? said Norio Sugaya, a pediatric specialist at Keiyu Hospital in Yokohama, a port city south of Tokyo. Sugaya sits on a committee that advises WHO, a Geneva- based arm of the United Nations, on managing swine flu patients.
In the U.K., a study this month found patients typically waited three days to start taking Tamiflu, one of two medicines available to fight the new virus as well as seasonal influenza.
Complication Risk
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, based in Atlanta, recommends that antiflu drugs be given to hospitalized patients, pregnant women and others with increased risk of complications. In Japan, doctors are advised to administer the medicines to anyone suspected of having flu, even if a rapid diagnostic test is negative, according to the Japanese Association for Infectious Diseases, a Tokyo-based organization of specialist doctors that provides treatment recommendations.
Japan accounted for three-quarters of the Tamiflu dispensed globally in the drug?s first five years of sale, Roche, based in Basel, Switzerland, said in a November 2005 filing to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Three years later, Japan?s government announced plans to stockpile enough antiflu medicines for 45 percent of its 128 million people. That may be triple the amount required to treat every swine flu patient. The proportion of people sickened by the pandemic virus ranges from 7 percent to 15 percent, depending on the country, according to WHO.
Japanese Practices
Japan?s status as one of the biggest users of antiviral medicines and its approach to treating seasonal and pandemic flu should be compared with practices elsewhere and the data should be published in English, said Lance Jennings, a clinical virologist with Canterbury Health Laboratories in Christchurch, New Zealand, who has studied flu for more than 30 years.
?If you have better capacity to diagnose cases earlier and are treating appropriately and early, you?re more likely to reduce the number of patients who will go on to develop more- severe influenza,? Jennings said in an interview.
While the majority of pandemic flu sufferers got over their illness within days without treatment, 1 percent to 10 percent needed hospitalization and as many as a quarter of those patients required intensive care, WHO said on Dec. 4.
Early Treatment
Tamiflu and Relenza, an inhaled medicine made by London- based GlaxoSmithKline Plc, appear beneficial in fighting the H1N1 virus, especially if treatment begins within 48 hours of the onset of symptoms, researchers said in a study in the New England Journal of Medicine in November. A paper in the same journal in December reported reduced complications, including deaths, among hospitalized patients treated with the medications.
A survey of Japanese patients in 2005 found 85 percent sought medical treatment for flu and 90 percent of consultations took place within 48 hours after the first symptoms appeared, according to David Reddy, who heads Roche?s influenza task force in Basel.
?These people do not wait until it?s too late,? Reddy said in a telephone interview. ?Japan has to be the gold standard of management of influenza.
It?s almost a societal response in terms of the way people modify their behavior.?
Japanese have become accustomed during the past decade to wearing masks in public to ward off allergic reactions to pollen from cedar trees throughout the country, said Masataka Yoshikawa, a researcher who tracks consumer behavior at Hakuhodo Institute of Life and Living, the research arm of a Tokyo-based advertising company. Japanese expect someone with a cold or flu to wear a mask to limit the spread of the virus, he said.
Wash and Gargle
?Hand-washing, gargling and wearing masks are three hygiene measures that are very well accepted in the community in Japan,? said Nikki Shindo, the Japanese doctor who is leading WHO?s investigation of swine flu patients. ?People don?t really hesitate to wear masks in public places. Even the 24/7 convenience stores sell high-particulate respirators at a reasonable price.?
Some researchers say they are skeptical that Tamiflu is effective and concerned that the virus will develop resistance to the drug because of misuse. An analysis of 20 studies published in the British Medical Journal on Dec. 8 showed Tamiflu offered mild benefits for healthy adults and found no proof it prevented lower respiratory tract infections or complications of flu. There is little evidence to show that otherwise healthy people should be given Tamiflu routinely, the researchers said.
?No Doubt?
?Based on our analysis and other subsequent work, there is no doubt that the drug can reduce complications,? said Frederick Hayden, a professor of clinical virology at the University of Virginia School of Medicine in Charlottesville, who was one of the first doctors to study Tamiflu in patients.
Missing doses or failing to complete a course of medicine increases the risk that a drug-evading strain will emerge, said William Aldis, an assistant professor of global health at Thammasat University in Bangkok and a former WHO representative to Thailand. In societies such as Japan, where treatment compliance is high, patients are less likely to contribute to drug resistance, he said.
?So this is one more reason to think carefully before applying Japan?s approach elsewhere,? Aldis said.
Japan, whose flu season typically peaks between January and March, may face more deaths from H1N1 if the infection trend follows that of seasonal flu, said Hitoshi Oshitani, a virology professor at Tohoku University in Sendai, in northern Japan.
?Japan will enter its regular peak flu season from now, and we have to observe whether the pattern continues or not,? he said. Oshitani, who advises WHO on pandemic strategies for developing nations, also credits the country?s school-closure program for helping battle swine flu.
To contact the reporters on this story: Kanoko Matsuyama in Tokyo at kmatsuyama2@bloomberg.net; Jason Gale at j.gale@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: December 10, 2009 10:05 EST
Dec. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Eight hours after Tokyo office worker Shungo Yamamoto started feeling feverish and faint, he got a diagnosis of swine flu, received antiviral drugs and embarked on three days of self-imposed isolation last month.
?I knew it was influenza immediately? because of the fever and joint pain, Yamamoto, 25, said. His doctor confirmed the diagnosis with a nose swab test and prescribed five days of Roche Holding AG?s antiviral drug Tamiflu. When he left the doctor?s office, Yamamoto put on a mask, bought a three-day supply of food, rented DVDs and headed home, where he stayed for the duration of his illness.
Japan?s aggressiveness against H1N1 influenza, the result of hygiene standards, social etiquette and a willingness to test and medicate immediately, means the country has fared better than the U.S. or the U.K. in battling the first pandemic in 41 years. A World Health Organization report shows Japan?s mortality rate is 2 deaths for every 100,000 people. The rate is higher by 11 times in the U.K., 16 times in the U.S. and 43 times in Australia.
?No doctor in Japan would tell a flu patient just to go home and sleep it off,? said Norio Sugaya, a pediatric specialist at Keiyu Hospital in Yokohama, a port city south of Tokyo. Sugaya sits on a committee that advises WHO, a Geneva- based arm of the United Nations, on managing swine flu patients.
In the U.K., a study this month found patients typically waited three days to start taking Tamiflu, one of two medicines available to fight the new virus as well as seasonal influenza.
Complication Risk
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, based in Atlanta, recommends that antiflu drugs be given to hospitalized patients, pregnant women and others with increased risk of complications. In Japan, doctors are advised to administer the medicines to anyone suspected of having flu, even if a rapid diagnostic test is negative, according to the Japanese Association for Infectious Diseases, a Tokyo-based organization of specialist doctors that provides treatment recommendations.
Japan accounted for three-quarters of the Tamiflu dispensed globally in the drug?s first five years of sale, Roche, based in Basel, Switzerland, said in a November 2005 filing to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Three years later, Japan?s government announced plans to stockpile enough antiflu medicines for 45 percent of its 128 million people. That may be triple the amount required to treat every swine flu patient. The proportion of people sickened by the pandemic virus ranges from 7 percent to 15 percent, depending on the country, according to WHO.
Japanese Practices
Japan?s status as one of the biggest users of antiviral medicines and its approach to treating seasonal and pandemic flu should be compared with practices elsewhere and the data should be published in English, said Lance Jennings, a clinical virologist with Canterbury Health Laboratories in Christchurch, New Zealand, who has studied flu for more than 30 years.
?If you have better capacity to diagnose cases earlier and are treating appropriately and early, you?re more likely to reduce the number of patients who will go on to develop more- severe influenza,? Jennings said in an interview.
While the majority of pandemic flu sufferers got over their illness within days without treatment, 1 percent to 10 percent needed hospitalization and as many as a quarter of those patients required intensive care, WHO said on Dec. 4.
Early Treatment
Tamiflu and Relenza, an inhaled medicine made by London- based GlaxoSmithKline Plc, appear beneficial in fighting the H1N1 virus, especially if treatment begins within 48 hours of the onset of symptoms, researchers said in a study in the New England Journal of Medicine in November. A paper in the same journal in December reported reduced complications, including deaths, among hospitalized patients treated with the medications.
A survey of Japanese patients in 2005 found 85 percent sought medical treatment for flu and 90 percent of consultations took place within 48 hours after the first symptoms appeared, according to David Reddy, who heads Roche?s influenza task force in Basel.
?These people do not wait until it?s too late,? Reddy said in a telephone interview. ?Japan has to be the gold standard of management of influenza.
It?s almost a societal response in terms of the way people modify their behavior.?
Japanese have become accustomed during the past decade to wearing masks in public to ward off allergic reactions to pollen from cedar trees throughout the country, said Masataka Yoshikawa, a researcher who tracks consumer behavior at Hakuhodo Institute of Life and Living, the research arm of a Tokyo-based advertising company. Japanese expect someone with a cold or flu to wear a mask to limit the spread of the virus, he said.
Wash and Gargle
?Hand-washing, gargling and wearing masks are three hygiene measures that are very well accepted in the community in Japan,? said Nikki Shindo, the Japanese doctor who is leading WHO?s investigation of swine flu patients. ?People don?t really hesitate to wear masks in public places. Even the 24/7 convenience stores sell high-particulate respirators at a reasonable price.?
Some researchers say they are skeptical that Tamiflu is effective and concerned that the virus will develop resistance to the drug because of misuse. An analysis of 20 studies published in the British Medical Journal on Dec. 8 showed Tamiflu offered mild benefits for healthy adults and found no proof it prevented lower respiratory tract infections or complications of flu. There is little evidence to show that otherwise healthy people should be given Tamiflu routinely, the researchers said.
?No Doubt?
?Based on our analysis and other subsequent work, there is no doubt that the drug can reduce complications,? said Frederick Hayden, a professor of clinical virology at the University of Virginia School of Medicine in Charlottesville, who was one of the first doctors to study Tamiflu in patients.
Missing doses or failing to complete a course of medicine increases the risk that a drug-evading strain will emerge, said William Aldis, an assistant professor of global health at Thammasat University in Bangkok and a former WHO representative to Thailand. In societies such as Japan, where treatment compliance is high, patients are less likely to contribute to drug resistance, he said.
?So this is one more reason to think carefully before applying Japan?s approach elsewhere,? Aldis said.
Japan, whose flu season typically peaks between January and March, may face more deaths from H1N1 if the infection trend follows that of seasonal flu, said Hitoshi Oshitani, a virology professor at Tohoku University in Sendai, in northern Japan.
?Japan will enter its regular peak flu season from now, and we have to observe whether the pattern continues or not,? he said. Oshitani, who advises WHO on pandemic strategies for developing nations, also credits the country?s school-closure program for helping battle swine flu.
To contact the reporters on this story: Kanoko Matsuyama in Tokyo at kmatsuyama2@bloomberg.net; Jason Gale at j.gale@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: December 10, 2009 10:05 EST
