pablomorgan
Well-known member
he Yomiuri Shimbun
Two high school students and one of their teachers from Osaka Prefecture were confirmed Saturday to be the first cases of H1N1 influenza in Japan, after their arrival at Narita Airport on Friday evening on a flight from Detroit.
Announcing the confirmation of the cases early Saturday morning, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said the three were a male teacher in his 40s and teenage male students of one of three Osaka prefectural government-run high schools in Neyagawa. They were among a group of 30 students and six teachers from the three high schools in Neyagawa who took part in an international exchange program for two weeks in Oakville, Canada, from April 24 until Thursday, the ministry said.
Following gene testing by the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, the three were determined to have contracted the new flu strain, according to the ministry.
The ministry acted under the Quarantine Law to isolate the three at a hospital in Chiba Prefecture that has been designated a medical facility for treating infectious diseases.
Forty-nine others, including 28 students who had joined the trip to Oakville in Canada's Ontario Province and arrived at Narita aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 25 at about 4:30 p.m. Friday, have been sequestered at accommodation facilities for 10 days of medical monitoring, ministry officials said.
The 49, who included two members of the 21-member crew of the Northwest Airlines flight as well as passengers seated near the patients, were considered to be at high risk of the flu infection because of their close proximity to the patients, they said. The Northwest flight carried 409 passengers and crew members.
The ministry reported the new flu cases to the World Health Organization, bringing to 28 the number of countries and regions affected by the flu, the officials said.
The ministry, however, said the fact that the three infected people were detected during quarantine procedures at Narita Airport means authorities had "successfully stemmed the flu virus from making inroads" into the rest of the country. Therefore, the government has no immediate plan to raise the alert level in its action program against the flu from the current Phase 1, denoting the emergence of the new flu abroad, to the Phase 2 level that would mark the early stage of domestic emergence of the disease.
When the Northwest plane arrived at Narita from Detroit, the teacher and one of the two students tested positive for type A flu, the category under which the new flu is classified, in a preliminary test conducted on board the aircraft.
The other student had shown no flu symptoms during the preliminary test and complained of coughing and other symptoms only after getting off the plane. He later tested positive for the type A flu virus, quarantine officials said.
According to the ministry, the teacher and one of the students had a fever higher than 38 C as of 3 p.m. Saturday and were being administered Tamiflu antiviral medicine, while the other student had a temperature exceeding 36 C. The hospital said all three were stable Saturday morning.
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http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20090510TDY01305.htm
Two high school students and one of their teachers from Osaka Prefecture were confirmed Saturday to be the first cases of H1N1 influenza in Japan, after their arrival at Narita Airport on Friday evening on a flight from Detroit.
Announcing the confirmation of the cases early Saturday morning, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said the three were a male teacher in his 40s and teenage male students of one of three Osaka prefectural government-run high schools in Neyagawa. They were among a group of 30 students and six teachers from the three high schools in Neyagawa who took part in an international exchange program for two weeks in Oakville, Canada, from April 24 until Thursday, the ministry said.
Following gene testing by the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, the three were determined to have contracted the new flu strain, according to the ministry.
The ministry acted under the Quarantine Law to isolate the three at a hospital in Chiba Prefecture that has been designated a medical facility for treating infectious diseases.
Forty-nine others, including 28 students who had joined the trip to Oakville in Canada's Ontario Province and arrived at Narita aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 25 at about 4:30 p.m. Friday, have been sequestered at accommodation facilities for 10 days of medical monitoring, ministry officials said.
The 49, who included two members of the 21-member crew of the Northwest Airlines flight as well as passengers seated near the patients, were considered to be at high risk of the flu infection because of their close proximity to the patients, they said. The Northwest flight carried 409 passengers and crew members.
The ministry reported the new flu cases to the World Health Organization, bringing to 28 the number of countries and regions affected by the flu, the officials said.
The ministry, however, said the fact that the three infected people were detected during quarantine procedures at Narita Airport means authorities had "successfully stemmed the flu virus from making inroads" into the rest of the country. Therefore, the government has no immediate plan to raise the alert level in its action program against the flu from the current Phase 1, denoting the emergence of the new flu abroad, to the Phase 2 level that would mark the early stage of domestic emergence of the disease.
When the Northwest plane arrived at Narita from Detroit, the teacher and one of the two students tested positive for type A flu, the category under which the new flu is classified, in a preliminary test conducted on board the aircraft.
The other student had shown no flu symptoms during the preliminary test and complained of coughing and other symptoms only after getting off the plane. He later tested positive for the type A flu virus, quarantine officials said.
According to the ministry, the teacher and one of the students had a fever higher than 38 C as of 3 p.m. Saturday and were being administered Tamiflu antiviral medicine, while the other student had a temperature exceeding 36 C. The hospital said all three were stable Saturday morning.
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http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20090510TDY01305.htm