Japan: Flu outbreak hits more than 2.11 million nationwide

[Shiloh]

Source: http://www.japantoday.com/category/n...ion-nationwide

Flu outbreak hits more than 2.11 million nationwide
National Feb. 12, 2012 - 07:00AM JST ( 5 )

TOKYO ?

The flu epidemic sweeping across Japan has now affected people in all 47 prefectures, but the epidemic may not have peaked yet, the National Institute of Infectious Diseases said Saturday.

The institute said that as of Feb 5, the number of flu patients in Japan topped 2.11 million, an increase of 380,000 over the previous week.

The number of patients visiting hospitals and clinics for flu treatment has now exceeded that during the peak week of the swine flu outbreak in 2009, when 1.89 million patients sought medical help, NHK reported...

[Pathfinder]

Re: Japan: Flu outbreak hits more than 2.11 million nationwide

Japan suffering from worst flu season in 10 years

February 11, 2012

By NOBUYA SAWA / Staff Writer

Face masks are being seen everywhere in Japan at the peak of flu season, as the number of patients is increasing at the fastest pace in 10 years.

The number of patients who sought treatment at medical institutions subject to a survey stood at 42.62 on average in the latest week from Jan. 30 to Feb. 5. That was the highest at this time of the year since 2002.

The total number of flu patients in Japan is estimated to be about 2.11 million.

Starting this month, the number of patients who have contracted different types of flu strains is also increasing.

This influenza season features the spread of a Type A Hong Kong flu for the first time in five seasons. About 90 percent of patients were contracting that type of virus until January. From this month, however, patients that are suffering from a Type B influenza are also increasing in some areas.

?Antibodies that were gained as a result of infection are maintained for certain periods. As time passes, however, their effects wane. As a Type A Hong Kong flu is spreading after a long interval, people may have lost their immunities,? said Hideki Hasegawa, director of the Department of Pathology at National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID).

Because of the various types of strains, there is a growing fear that the current flu season will be a long-lasting one.

More...

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201202110005

[Vibrant62]

Re: Japan: Flu outbreak hits more than 2.11 million nationwide

Google Flu Trends for Japan is remarkable. It appeared the epidemic had peaked, but look at it now.

http://www.google.org/flutrends/jp/#JP

[Missouriwatcher]

Re: Japan: Flu outbreak hits more than 2.11 million nationwide

Infectious Disease Surveillance Center (IDSC) monitors influenza in Japan and reports:
During five weeks from week 1 to week 5 of 2012, isolations/detections of AH1pdm09 from 2 cases in 2 prefectures, AH3 from 1,053 cases in 42 prefectures, B/Victoria lineage from 96 cases in 22 prefectures, B/Yamagata lineage from 42 cases in 19 prefectures and B/lineage not determined from 33 cases in 12 prefectures were reported.

http://idsc.nih.go.jp/iasr/index.html