Re: Aso calls for calm response as new flu infections reach 351 in Japan
Re: Aso calls for calm response as new flu infections reach 351 in Japan
Mother-Child Infection: Disarmingly few
May 27, 2009
Source:
http://www.cabrain.net/news/article/newsId/22243.html
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Cases of mother-child infection were disarmingly few.? Yoshinori Yasui, chief researcher of the Infectious Diseases Surveillance Center, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, stated Tuesday in an explanatory meeting held in the center, discussing the interim report* of the epidemiological investigations on mass infection of novel influenza in Osaka. (* Note: this is the report I discussed in the previous post #105. Unfortunately, English version is not published yet.)
The researcher Yasui visited Osaka from May 16 to 24 to perform the epidemiological investigations on 64 confirmed cases in the junior and senior high school (Note: Kansai Okura, the same as the below article) and 5 confirmed case in a primary school in Yao-city.
The researcher Yasui said: ?Usually, it is anticipated that the mother in a family will be the first to be infected. However, such cases were disarmingly few.
Brothers and sisters got infected. But few mothers got infected even in very close mother-child relationship cases. We will do further analysis on this.?
As students in their teens were predominantly patients of the spread,
school closures were effective in reducing the infection.?
-snip-
?Morbidity is NOT high?, Novel flu in Kansai Okura
May 27, 2009
Source:
http://www.asahi.com/kansai/news/OSK200905270015.html
National Institute of Infectious Diseases published an interim report of the epidemiological investigations on the mass infection in Kansai Okura junior and senior high school in Ibaraki-city, Osaka.
The main cause of the infection is considered to be school busses. As there were few infections other than between students, NIID stated: ?
morbidity would not be so high.? The symptoms were mild in each case.
So far, more than a hundred cases were confirmed among students and teachers of Kansai Okura junior and senior high school. In the epidemiological investigations, 61 students and 3 teachers were interviewed about their symptoms and the situation of contacts with others.
Three students in a class of 2nd grade of the senior high school did not attend the class on May 11 because they had been diagnosed with A type flu. On May 13, 36 students including other classes were absent from school and the school closed the entire grade. Therefore, the possibility is high that the infection started and spreaded from this grade. However, as earlier students were not diagnosed with the novel flu*, the real starting point of the infection could not be investigated and remains unknown.
(* Note: PCR tests were not conducted for those students because the government?s diagnosis guideline then required PCR test only for suspected patients who had contact with a confirmed patient of the novel flu or who had traveled abroad within ten days.)
There were also infections between close friends and infections through club activities. However,
a major cause of widespread infection beyond classes and grades is considered to be school busses which about 1500 students or 80% of the entire school of 1900 students use for both going to and from the school. Busses were always full of students in a situation where droplet infections easily occur. At home, the infection to parents was less than that between brothers and sisters for unknown reasons.
Judging from the fact that infections in a class gradually spreaded from students who were sitting nearer to the first patient, Yoshinori Yasui, chief researcher, who conducted the investigations, stated: ?
people who had closely contacted a patient for a relatively long time got infected. Distant relationship didn?t cause the infection. It is impossible that you will be infected only by going to Osaka.?
Rergarding bashing of the school people, Yasui called for a calm reaction. ?Anybody can contract influenza. Infected people are no different from others and this is not their fault. Please stop the bashing.?
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As far as I know, this is the first time, an expert of influenza clearly states: ?morbidity would not be high.? (In a govermental scientist case, this sounds a complete affirmative to me.)
Please correct me if I am wrong. No passengers sitting around a patient got infected in transocean flights. No hotel guests of the hotel where a patient stayed got infected. In SARS'case, multiple infections are reported in a flight and a hotel.
Morbidity is NOT high. (as far as Hyogo and Osaka are concerned.)
THIS IS NOT A WOLF BUT A SHEEP IN PIG?S CLOTHING.
What troubles me is that commuter trains in Japanese big cities are in the same situation as the school bus.
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SN1987A
