Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Japan Commentary: From 16 to 228 In Four Days

The first indication of Swine Flu in Japan came on April 30th:
http://pandemicinformationnews.blogspot.com/2009/04/first-probable-case-of-swine-flu.html

May 1st: Boy tests negative for Swine Flu from School trip to Canada
http://pandemicinformationnews.blogspot.com/2009/05/japanese-boy-tests-negative-for-swine.html

May 9th:
The first confirmed were 4 students and a teacher who had returned from Canada on a school trip.
http://pandemicinformationnews.blogspot.com/2009/05/japan-australia-confirm-first-swine-flu.html

May 16th: First case inside the Country.
This person had not traveled abroad recently.
That was 4 days ago.
http://pandemicinformationnews.blogspot.com/2009/05/japan-confirms-1st-swine-flu-caught.html


Later that very day, we have a report of 16 cases:
http://pandemicinformationnews.blogspot.com/2009/05/japan-confirms-16-new-swine-flu-cases.html

May 17th: We jump to 56 cases...
http://pandemicinformationnews.blogspot.com/2009/05/japan-confirms-more-swine-flu-cases.html

May 18th: 130 Cases
http://pandemicinformationnews.blogspot.com/2009/05/japan-on-high-alert-as-130-people.html

May 19th: 173 Cases
http://pandemicinformationnews.blogspot.com/2009/05/japan-closes-over-4000-schools-swine.html

May 20th: Top 200 Cases.....but it's only 7:00 AM EST
http://pandemicinformationnews.blogspot.com/2009/05/japans-h1n1-flu-cases-top-200.html


In 4 Days: 16th: 16
20th: 228

They won't be doing testing anymore.
"The municipality has decided to allow family physicians to treat patients with high fever, which means it can no longer carry out genetic tests on all suspected cases of swine flu, said an official of Kobe.

20 May 2009 06:06
Swine influenza in Japan: 228 patients, a third hit prefecture

KOBE (Japan) - The number of cases of swine influenza in Japan reached 228 Wednesday, according to the authorities, while the epidemic has spread to a third prefecture to the west of the archipelago.

More than twenty new cases are residents of the city of Kobe (Hyogo Prefecture), the most affected by the infection in Japan. Its officers, referring to a "virtual epidemic", announced that he would detect the influenza A (H1N1) among all the people showing symptoms of influenza.

"The municipality has decided to allow family physicians to treat patients with high fever, which means it can no longer carry out genetic tests on all suspected cases of swine flu, said an official of Kobe.

The city hosted the tests so far in spaces specially equipped health, where it was coming all patients suspected of having the flu virus.

Among the new confirmed cases also included a man in his twenties living in Shiga Prefecture (center-west), near the prefectures of Osaka and Hyogo (west), where so far focused the sick, for most youth.

This patient had visited over the weekend in Kobe, in Hyogo prefecture, where the virus was probably transmitted.

The infection spread rapidly since Saturday after a tournament volleyball between two high schools in Osaka and Kobe.

Experts are convinced that the influenza A (H1N1) has probably already spread to other parts of the archipelago, including the great metropolis of Tokyo, the most populous agglomeration in the world with 36 million 'inhabitants.

The Kyodo news agency reported that 86% of patients identified so far in Japan were aged 10 to 19 years, suggesting a higher virulence of swine influenza in young people in Japan than in States USA.

Japan is in fourth position among the countries hardest hit by the virus, after the United States, Mexico and Canada.

http://tinyurl.com/q4ojlq

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