Aso calls for calm response as new flu infections exceed 5000 in Japan

[SuperNova1987A]

Re: Aso calls for calm response as new flu infections reach 191 in Japan

Update of Novel flu in Japan from NHK TV etc.
May 23, 2009

Status of infection
Kansai area (western Japan)
Hyogo prefecture (including Kobe) 176 confirmed cases [Today 12]
Osaka prefecture 147 confirmed cases [Today 9]
Shiga prefecture 2 confirmed case [Today 1]
Kyoto prefecture 2 confirmed case [Today 1]
(In post #89, Shiga was mistakenly stated as Nara, and Kyoto was
written as Koyo. Sorry for the trouble.)

Kanto area (eastern Japan)
Tokyo prefecture 3 confirmed cases [Today 1]
Kanagawa prefecture 1 confirmed case
Saitama prefecture 2 confirmed case [Today 1]

Narita airport 5 confirmed cases

Total 7 prefectures 338 confirmed cases [Today 25]

Ministry of Health
Yoshio Nanba, head of the health ministry?s Office of Pandemic Influenza Preparedness and Response, said Saturday: ?The number of infection is more or less in decline since May 20. It seems that the school closure had certain effect for the prevention of spread. Therfore, the Ministry will carefully watch the situation after the school opening on May 25.?

Hyogo Prefeture
Nursery schools for small children and day-care facilities for elderly people reopened Saturday in Hyogo Prefecture. Parents who had to take leaves to take care of their children during this week are able to go back to work.

Osaka Prefecture
Osaka prefecture held a meeting Today to discuss measures to reinstate city functions.
It was reported that the number of new infections is in decline.
The prefecture decided to open all prefectural schools, from kindergardens to high schools, on Monday.
High-fever consultation centers will be increased from 48 to 500 by extending locations from the current large hospitals to medium and small-size hospitals and clinicls.

Kyoto and Shiga Prefectures
A female student (15) in Kyoto and a male student (16) in Shiga of the same vocational school in Kyoto are confirmed Today. They went to an excursion to Osaka on May 14.

Saitama Prefecture
A man who traveled Osaka and Kyoto with the first case in Saitama was confirmed Today.


_______________________
SN1987A

[SuperNova1987A]

Re: Aso calls for calm response as new flu infections reach 191 in Japan

Report on Novel Flu infections in Osaka

138 confirmed cases with onset dates from May 10 to 22
Date / Nos
May 10 / 1
May 11 / 1
May 12 / 1
May 13 / 8
May 14 / 12
May 15 / 22
May 16 / 24
May 17 / 29
May 18 / 22
May 19 / 9
May 20 / 7
May 21 / 2
Total 138
<table cellspacing="1">
<tr><td>138 confirmed cases In which<td/><tr/>
<tr><td>Primary School<td/><td>11<td/><td>(8%)<td/><tr/>
<tr><td>Junior High School<td/><td>15<td/><td>(11%)<td/><tr/>
<tr><td>High School<td/><td>100<td/><td>(72%)<td/><tr/>
<tr><td>Others<td/><td>12<td/><td>(9%)<td/><tr/>
<table/>

85% of high school students belong to Kansai Ohkura high school.

Male/Female 89/49
Average Age 17.2 (6 to 53 years old)

<table>
<tr><td>Symptoms<td/><tr/>
<tr><td>High fever (38 degrees C and higher)<td/><td>79%<td/><tr/>
<tr><td>Fever (less than 38 degrees C)<td/><td>17%<td/><tr/>
<tr><td>Cough<td/><td>57%<td/><tr/>
<tr><td>Sore Throat<td/><td>36%<td/><tr/>
<tr><td>Respiratory Difficulty <td/><td>1%<td/><tr/>
<tr><td>Diarrhea<td/><td>4%<td/><tr/>
<tr><td>Fatigue<td/><td>10%<td/><tr/>
<tr><td>Joint Pain<td/><td>7%<td/><tr/>
<tr><td>Nasal discharge, nasal congestion<td/><td>14%<td/><tr/>
<tr><td>Headache<td/><td>11%<td/><tr/>
<tr><td>Vomit<td/><td>2%<td/><tr/>
<table/>
Notes
Infections in Osaka centered on Kansai Ohkura Junior and Senior High Schools.
A rapid spread turned into a rapid decline after the all school closure.
Symptoms are similar to the seasonal flu. Antivirals are effective.
A rapid spread was stopped by the school closure.


__________________________
SN1987A

[SuperNova1987A]

Re: Aso calls for calm response as new flu infections reach 338 in Japan

Update of Novel flu in Japan from NHK TV
May 24, 2009

Status of infection
Kansai area (western Japan)
Hyogo prefecture (including Kobe) 178 confirmed cases [Today 2]
Osaka prefecture 148 confirmed cases [Today 1]
Shiga prefecture 2 confirmed case
Kyoto prefecture 2 confirmed case

Kanto area (eastern Japan)
Tokyo prefecture 3 confirmed cases
Kanagawa prefecture 1 confirmed case
Saitama prefecture 2 confirmed case

Narita airport 5 confirmed cases

Total 7 prefectures 341 confirmed cases [Today 3]



Osaka Prefecture
A man (19) without a job was confirmed Today.

Hyogo Prefecture
Two high school student (17 and 18) were confirmed Today.

Schools in Osaka and Hyogo are preparing for tomorrow’s opening.


____________________
SN1987A

[sharon sanders]

Re: Aso calls for calm response as new flu infections reach 338 in Japan

Thanks for all these updates SN.

[Laidback Al]

Re: Aso calls for calm response as new flu infections reach 341 in Japan

Yes, thanks for the graphic display of the data. It will be interesting to see if cases continue to increase in other prefectures or in Eastern Japan.

Map below shows the geographic distribution of A(H1N1) cases in Japan. The highlighted yellow areas are prefectures with confirmed cases.

[Siegfried X]

Japan plays down swine flu threat as business suffers

Japan moved from the tightest quarantine on earth to saying new H1N1 is the "seasonal flu". Like the other countries they locked down the country before the new flu had spread, but once it got loose they tried to ignore it.

Japan Plays Down Swine Flu Threat as Business Suffers

Japan relaxed its policies for tackling swine flu to measures similar to those taken for the seasonal influenza to reduce panic about the virus that is damaging businesses and the economy.

The government?s swine flu taskforce eased policies on quarantine and flight inspections and downplayed the severity of the virus in new guidelines issued today. The measures will end mandatory on-board health checks of people on flights from the U.S., Canada and Mexico...

?This virus should be considered more like a seasonal flu than a more deadly disease such as Avian flu or SARS,? Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura said today at a press conference, referring to severe acute respiratory syndrome. ?People should remain cautious but calm.? ...

As many as 362,200 people canceled visits to western Japan, the Japan Ryokan Association said in a faxed statement dated yesterday. The cancellations to Kyoto, Nara, Osaka, and other western Japan destinations cost the tourism industry about 4.3 billion yen ($46 million), the hotel group?s statement said...

The outbreak forced shops to close in western Japan, including all 175 boutiques and restaurants at the Santica underground shopping mall in central Kobe. Sales fell by 50 percent, according to the mall?s general manager Kouji Kitamura.

?The damage done by swine flu is worse than the Lehman Shock,? Kitamura said today, referring to the global recession triggered by the implosion of Wall Street banks...

Japan plays down flu

[tropical]

Re: Aso calls for calm response as new flu infections reach 341 in Japan

#97:...

Yes indeed.

When it came to money spending, all countries capitulate.

For the markets burning "necronomicon", it was dealed and opted to thrown money into the holes.

Now, when an less costly event (as pointed at the bottom of the text) appeared to endanger the health of an part of countries citizens, when it comes to money, it became "too costly" to enforced the scientific shielding options.

"Lasse fair, lasse passe' "
multinational language whispers in the only air we all breath ...

its only mild, no big deal;
why to loose money with few weeks of inconclusive closures;
it will stay for months, so no closures are efective
(but the early one which was only partly and simplified carried out);
or
closures/quarantines are inefective ...
there were already milions of mild infected, so the closures are now irelevant ...

NOW,
but not 1 month ago,
when all the harboring countries could did it better to stop it.

But thanks to few folks/countries who at least try to do the best closures in such frangents, even if now were stopped by the rullers ...

[SuperNova1987A]

Re: Aso calls for calm response as new flu infections reach 346 in Japan

Update of Novel flu in Japan
May 25, 2009

Status of infection
Kansai area (western Japan)
Hyogo prefecture (including Kobe) 179 confirmed cases [Today 1]
Osaka prefecture 151 confirmed cases [Yesterday 1, Today 2]
Shiga prefecture 2 confirmed case
Kyoto prefecture 2 confirmed case

Kanto area (eastern Japan)
Tokyo prefecture 3 confirmed cases
Kanagawa prefecture 1 confirmed case
Saitama prefecture 2 confirmed case

Narita airport 6 confirmed cases [Yesterday 1]

Total 7 prefectures 346 confirmed cases [Yesterday 2, Today 3]



Osaka Prefecture
Today: Two females of 24 and 21.

Hyogo Prefecture
Today: A female college student.

Narita Airport
Yesterday: A Japan Airline?s employee (male in his 40s) arriving from Vancouver, Canada on board JAL 17, had a fever of 37.1 degrees C, coughing, on a business trip to Seatle. Of 14 passengers sitting around him, a Japanese male and a Canadian male and a Canadian female will be contacted daily by Health centers.
Although the onboard inspection was discontinued on May 22, an onboard inspection was conducted that the patient reported having a fever before arrival.

School closure
2580 schools in Osaka and 2152 schools in Hyogo resumed class Monday.
83 schools in Osaka and 14 schools in Hyogo are still closed either because there were many confirmed patients or because school closure was originally scheduled until Tuesday.
273 schools in Kyoto will be closed until Wednesday and 309 schools in Shiga will be closed until Tuesday.



______________________
SN1987A

[pjie2]

Re: Aso calls for calm response as new flu infections reach 346 in Japan

Yesterday: A Japan Airline?s employee (male in his 40s) arriving from Vancouver, Canada on board JAL 17, had a fever of 37.1 degrees C, coughing, on a business trip to Seatle.

37.1 degrees is not a fever. Typo?

[Siegfried X]

Japan: the worst is over?

It's amazing how quickly the flu went away, as soon as there was economic damage from quarantines.

Four new flu cases; schools to reopen

Kyodo News

The tally of swine flu infections in Japan rose to 342 on Sunday, as four more people, including a 19-year-old man in Toyono, Osaka Prefecture, and an 18-year-old male high school student in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, were confirmed as having the new H1N1 virus.

Osaka and Hyogo prefectures, where more than 310 of the confirmed patients live, plan to allow elementary, junior high and high schools to resume classes Monday after they were shut down for about a week.

The prefectural governments said the worst is apparently over, with recent figures showing that the number of new infections has slowed down.

They made the decision after the central government relaxed its flu policy Friday, allowing local governments to decide on school closures based on the situation in each area.

There have been no deaths in Japan related to the new H1N1 virus.

4 new cases

[SuperNova1987A]

Re: Aso calls for calm response as new flu infections reach 346 in Japan

Hi pjie2

No. 37.1 degrees C is correct.

I call
37.0-37.9 Fever
38.0- High fever

Osaka Prefecture reported 17% of novel flu patients had a fever between 37.0-37.9.

________________________
SN1987A

[SuperNova1987A]

Re: Aso calls for calm response as new flu infections reach 346 in Japan

Confirmed cases of Novel flu in Hyogo

Date of confirmation

Blue bar: Daily number of confirmed cases
Red line: Accumulated number of confirmed cases
Beige bar: Daily number of confirmed cases related to schools
Pink line: Accumulated number of confirmed cases related to schools




___________________
SN1987A

[pjie2]

Re: Aso calls for calm response as new flu infections reach 346 in Japan

Hi pjie2

No. 37.1 degrees C is correct.

I call
37.0-37.9 Fever

Not to be rude, but that's simply wrong. 37 degrees is NORMAL body temperature, and there's at least ~0.5 degrees variance around this. You can't really call it even a low fever till you get to 38 degrees. 39 degrees is a moderate fever, while 40 is high.

[SuperNova1987A]

Re: Aso calls for calm response as new flu infections reach 346 in Japan

No severe case reported
May 23, 2009
Source: http://idsc.nih.go.jp/disease/swine_...epi_osaka.html

The Infectious Disease Surveillance Center (IDSC), National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID), published a report on clinical aspects of Novel flu in Osaka.

According to the report, no severe case was found among 69 patients; 5 primary school pupils and 64 junior high and senior high school students.

Of 64 students, 18 patients were hospitalized according to the Infectious Diseases Prevention Act. However, hospitalization was not medically necessary for none of the hospitalized cases.

Tamiflu and relenza were effective.
************************************************** ********
The above report in English will be ready shortly. I will post it.

No severe case has been reported from any novel flu patient in Japan.
It may be an example of WHO?s comment that the same disease cause different damage to different population.

A report on 61 novel flu patients in Hyogo states 18 patients (10-20s of age) had fevers between 37.1 and 37.9 degrees C and a teenage high school student had no fever.

In Japan (and elsewhere in the world, I believe), we say flu patients typically have fevers of 38 degrees and higher. And younger patients tend to have higher fevers while elderly patients sometimes have fevers less than 38 (when they are too old).

This flu looks very different.

_____________________________________
SN1987A

[tropical]

Re: Aso calls for calm response as new flu infections reach 346 in Japan

Hi pjie2

No. 37.1 degrees C is correct.

I call
37.0-37.9 Fever
38.0- High fever

Osaka Prefecture reported 17% of novel flu patients had a fever between 37.0-37.9.

________________________
SN1987A

It would be interesting to know if during this period of symptoms there are also an alternating pattern of daily periods by temperature sub-lowering:

low to higher 37-39

than lowering to sub-temperatures: 36-36.3

and than renewed higher.