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NZ Auckland confirmed cases April 26+

Sally Furniss

Sally Furniss

Well-known member
Auckland students being tested for swine flu

Sun, 26 Apr 2009 4:05p.m.

A group of 25 staff and students of Rangitoto College on Auckland's North Shore are being tested for the deadly swine influenza after returning from a school trip to Mexico.

More than 80 people in Mexico are believed to have died and over 1,300 are sick as a result of catching swine flu which has led to the closure of schools in Mexico City.

There have also been cases of the swine flu reported in New York, California and Kansas and a British Airways pilot has been hospitalised in London with flu symptoms after returning from Mexico.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared the outbreaks a "public health event of international concern" and said they could cause a pandemic - a global epidemic of serious disease.

Normal border control procedures were in place, and the WHO has asked all countries to "intensify surveillance for unusual outbreaks of influenza-like illness and severe pneumonia".

The New Zealand Ministry of Health it is in contact with the WHO and was liaising with Australia over its response.

"We are implementing the early stages of our pandemic response plan," a spokesman said. "However at this stage there is no indication that this will be needed."

3 News / NZPA


http://www.3news.co.nz/News/Aucklan...rticleID/101256/Default.aspx?ArticleID=101256
 
Re: NZ: Auckland students being tested for swine flu

Re: NZ: Auckland students being tested for swine flu

I assume they are being tested proactively... as in thoroughly screened... rather than due to symptomatic illness, but I admit: I'm assuming.
 
Re: NZ: Auckland students being tested for swine flu

Re: NZ: Auckland students being tested for swine flu

Twenty-two students from Auckland's Rangitoto College, may have been infected with the Swine Flu, which the World Health Organisation warn could start a global epidemic.


The students, believed to be senior students, arrived back to New Zealand via Los Angeles on Saturday, after a language trip to Mexico.


Up to six have been showing flu like symptoms, but the test results won't be confirmed until Monday. They are being quarantined at their homes.


Three teachers also accompanied the students on the three week trip.


The Ministry of Health issued an alert following an outbreak of swine flu in Mexico and the US.

More than 80 people in Mexico are believed to have died and over 1300 are sick as a result of catching swine flu which has led to the closure of schools in Mexico City.

Public health authorities are warning people who have returned to New Zealand from the United States and Mexico to check with their doctors if they have symptoms of respiratory illness.


http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/akld-students-show-swine-flu-symptoms-2675117
 
Re: NZ: Auckland students being tested for swine flu

Re: NZ: Auckland students being tested for swine flu

"
The students, believed to be senior students, arrived back to New Zealand via Los Angeles on Saturday, after a language trip to Mexico."

It leads one to speculate how many passengers sitting within 2 rows of the infected were themselves infected and are now transmitting flu asymptomatically within NZ, does it not?

NZ, me thinks you have a problem.
 
Re: NZ: Auckland students being tested for swine flu

Re: NZ: Auckland students being tested for swine flu

Auckland students being tested for swine flu

Sun, 26 Apr 2009 4:05p.m.

A group of 25 staff and students of Rangitoto College on Auckland's North Shore are being tested for the deadly swine influenza after returning from a school trip to Mexico.

The group of 22 senior students and three teachers arrived into New Zealand after spending three weeks in Mexico.

After some of the group presented symptoms of an influenza-like illness, the Auckland Regional Public Health Service (ARPHS) is conducting preliminary tests to determine the cause of the illness.

"We are taking this very seriously and doing everything necessary to manage this situation in Auckland," says ARPHS Clinical Director Dr Julia Peters. "The Ministry of Health is managing the response to this issue at a national level."

More than 80 people in Mexico are believed to have died and over 1,300 are sick as a result of catching swine flu which has led to the closure of schools in Mexico City.

There have also been cases of the swine flu reported in New York, California and Kansas and a British Airways pilot has been hospitalised in London with flu symptoms after returning from Mexico.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared the outbreaks a "public health event of international concern" and said they could cause a pandemic - a global epidemic of serious disease.

Normal border control procedures were in place, and the WHO has asked all countries to "intensify surveillance for unusual outbreaks of influenza-like illness and severe pneumonia".

The New Zealand Ministry of Health it is in contact with the WHO and was liaising with Australia over its response.

"We are implementing the early stages of our pandemic response plan," a spokesman said. "However at this stage there is no indication that this will be needed."


http://www.3news.co.nz/News/HealthN...abid/420/articleID/101256/cat/58/Default.aspx
 
Re: NZ: Auckland students being tested for swine flu

Re: NZ: Auckland students being tested for swine flu

Dang :( That's one I can honestly say I'm sorry I got wrong.
 
Kiwis show flu-like symptoms

Kiwis show flu-like symptoms

Kiwis show flu-like symptoms
Last updated 17:13 26/04/2009

LATEST An Auckland school group is being tested for swine flu after returning from Mexico with flu-like symptoms.
More than 80 people in Mexico are believed to have died and over 1300 are sick as a result of catching swine flu. Cases have also been reported in New York, California and Kansas and a British Airways pilot has been hospitalised in London with flu symptoms after returning from Mexico.
Three teachers and 22 senior students at Rangitoto College, New Zealand's largest secondary school, on Auckland's North Shore, yesterday returned to Auckland on a flight from Los Angeles, after a three week trip to Mexico.
Auckland Regional Public Health Service (ARPHS) said today some had symptoms of an influenza-like illness and were remaining in home isolation as a precaution while tests to exclude or confirm swine influenza were carried out.
One student was believed to be in hospital.
Ministry of Health spokesman Michael Flyger said the results of tests were expected this evening.
He said at this stage other passengers on the flight were not being sought and the next step would depend on what the tests showed.
"We don't believe at this point that there is a need for that.
"We might get no positives, we might get one, we might get all of them. It's a pretty big step to be taking (and) it's something that would be considered."
In the meantime the students and teachers had been told to stay at home in isolation and ARPHS was briefing their families and the school on infection control precautions.
While the virus' spread was considered serious enough for WHO declare a health emergency, Mr Flyger said it had proven responsive to drugs.
"It is concerning for sure. You've just got to look at the WHO's advice on this, but it has shown it reacts to treatment so it's not as bad as it could be.
"We're not looking at (the horror film) 28 Days Later."
The ARPHS had advised their families about infection control precautions.

The service was advising the school's principal and the Ministry of Education."We are taking this very seriously and doing everything necessary to manage this situation in Auckland," ARPHS clinical director Dr Julia Peters said.
"The Ministry of Health is managing the response to this issue at a national level."
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned the current situation with swine flu could start a global epidemic.


http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/2364487/Kiwis-show-flu-like-symptoms
 
Re: NZ: Auckland students being tested for swine flu

Re: NZ: Auckland students being tested for swine flu

Preliminary results are in and will be released publicly tomorrow.

source TV3
 
Re: NZ: Auckland students being tested for swine flu

Re: NZ: Auckland students being tested for swine flu

Video available to watch


Swine flu feared to have spread to NZ

Rangitoto_180.jpg
Students and teachers from Auckland's Rangitoto College are being tested for swine flu
Sun, 26 Apr 2009 6:06p.m.

A group of 25 staff and students from Rangitoto College on Auckland's North Shore are being tested for the deadly swine flu after returning from a school trip to Mexico.
Eighteen people in the group of 25 five staff and students have reported influenza-like illness and Auckland health officials are checking whether it is the swine influenza strain.

"Since we became aware of the situation we have been applying all our resources to investigate it and manage it," says Dr Julia Peters, Clinical Director of the Auckland Regional Public Health Service.

Nurses have been speaking with people who have been in direct contact with the group to assess their health.

"There's one young student who was admitted to hospital last night but the clinicians are reasonably confident that is not influenza," Dr Peters says. "But all the others are being managed at home."

The Ministry of Health says it has put in place the initial stages of a pandemic response plan and there is heightened awareness around flights from the western United States for people with influenza-like illness and severe pneumonia.

"In terms of the wider community our advice is that people who are returning from Mexico who do have any symptoms that could be consistent with influenza need to contact their GP or their practice nurse and get further advice from them," Dr Peters says.
It is believed more than 80 people have already died from the flu in Mexico and the World Health Organisation (WHO) has called an emergency meeting to warn the world of the potential for a global pandemic.
There are now 11 confirmed cases in the US and ten other cases are being investigated.
The virus has reached California, Texas, Kansas and New York and has stretched as far as London where a member of a British Airways cabin crew has been taken to hospital suffering from flu-like symptoms.

In Japan, thermo-imaging equipment has been set up at airports to pick up passengers with unusually high temperatures, while France has a crisis centre in operation to monitor the situation.

The swine influenza is thought to have originated in pigs, which are susceptible to human flu, avian flu and their own swine flu.
All three forms can mutate with each other, swapping genes.

The swine flu strain now circulating appears to have elements from all three.

Symptoms of influenza include a fever, body aches, cough, nasal congestion and sometimes diarrhoea and vomiting.
The Ministry of Health says it will update the public as soon as the tests from the Rangitoto College group are available.
3 News


http://www.3news.co.nz/News/Swine-f...rticleID/101257/Default.aspx?ArticleID=101257
 
Re: NZ: Auckland students being tested for swine flu

Re: NZ: Auckland students being tested for swine flu

My youngster arrived home from a school trip to Hawaii this morning, reminding me, as if I needed it, that the world is really very "small' nowadays. I will be watching the situation like a hawk. Thanks to all for your input to this site.
 
Re: NZ: Auckland students being tested for swine flu

Re: NZ: Auckland students being tested for swine flu

Health Minister Tony Ryall has just confirmed the Auckland students have the same H1N1 as is rife in Mexico.

Television interview stated above but online news summary does not corroborate this.
 
Last edited:
Re: NZ: Auckland students being tested for swine flu

Re: NZ: Auckland students being tested for swine flu

Minister: 10 NZ students likely have swine flu
April 26, 2009 04:59 EDT


WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) -- New Zealand's health minister says precautions are being taken after 10 students who just returned from Mexico tested positive for influenza.

Tony Ryall says the cases are "likely" to be swine flu, but there is "no guarantee" the students have the virus.

The group is among 25 high school students and teachers quarantined and tested after returning from a trip to Mexico, which is struggling to contain an outbreak that has killed up to 81 people.

Asian-Pacific nations have heightened their monitoring to be on the alert for possible cases now that the World Health Organization declared the virus a public health emergency of "pandemic potential."

Ryall says none of the New Zealanders are seriously ill and seem to be recovering.

At this stage other passengers on the flight with the students were not being sought and the next step would depend on what the tests showed.

http://www.kgan.com/template/inews_wire/wires.international/2ab7062e-www.kgan.com.shtml
 
Re: NZ: Auckland students being tested for swine flu

Re: NZ: Auckland students being tested for swine flu

Ten influenza results confirmed in New Zealand teens

Ten students have tonight tested positive for influenza with health officials saying they consider it "likely" the pupils have swine flu.

Swine flu is believed to have killed more than 80 people in Mexico and over 1300 are sick as a result of catching the virus which has also hit parts of the United States.

Health officials said tonight there were also three other high schools at risk with pupils from Northcote College having recently returned from Mexico, while Pinehurst and Westlake Girls High also had pupils in the United States and South America.

Health Minister Tony Ryall said most of the flu-affected pupils from Northcote College were on the "road to recovery", but other pupils had since come down with flu-like symptoms.

The affected pupils were being kept in isolation at home along with their family members.

One pupil had been hospitalised, but their condition was not serious, officials said.

Dr Darren Hunt, deputy director of public health, said it could take days till they knew whether the influenza was H1N1 swine flu, a subset of Influenza A.

Melbourne health authorities were tonight being contacted and would carry out the tests.

Until results were known, health officials are treating the situation as if the victims had swine flu and have upgraded the country?s health alert status from "code white" to "code yellow".

Doctors and nurses would also be stationed at Auckland International Airport from early tomorrow to screen for possible symptoms from travellers landing from North and Central America.

Officials would also seek fellow passengers onboard Air New Zealand's NZ1 Los Angeles flight that landed early yesterday and carried the affected Northcote College pupils.

Mr Ryall encouraged passengers on the flight to consult with their GP or other health professional if they develop flu-like symptoms.

Middlemore Hospital had released tamiflu to the Auckland Regional Public Health Service to treat the patients and people who had been in contact with them.

The Ministry was in contact with the WHO and was liaising with Australia in terms of their response.

The Ministry was also working closely with Auckland Regional Public Health, district health boards and other Government agencies including MAF, Customs and the Ministry of Education.

It would keep New Zealanders informed of developments, Mr Ryall said.

- with NZPA

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/2364487/Ten-influenza-results-confirmed-in-New-Zealand-teens
 
Re: NZ: Auckland students being tested for swine flu

Re: NZ: Auckland students being tested for swine flu

I'm guessing at this point...H1N1 is worldwide, and in all major cities, especially those with international airports.

Can someone comment on the infection rate? Is 40% high?

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/04/26/world/AP-Swine-Flu-World.html?_r=1&ref=global-home

The 10 students were among 13 from New Zealand's largest high school quarantined and tested for the virus after returning from Mexico. In all, 25 students and teachers arrived in the northern city of Auckland on Saturday on a flight from Los Angeles. One student had to be hospitalized, said Auckland Regional Public Health Services director Dr. Julia Peters.
 
Re: NZ: Auckland students being tested for swine flu

Re: NZ: Auckland students being tested for swine flu

Strict quarantine wasn't immediately enforced as one of the children went and played an inter school soccer game the day they arrived home. I hope 40% is way off the mark.
 
Re: NZ: Auckland students being tested for swine flu

Re: NZ: Auckland students being tested for swine flu

Ten New Zealand students just returned from Mexico have tested positive for influenza A and are believed "likely" to have contracted swine flu, the New Zealand government said on Sunday.


Three teachers and 22 senior students from Auckland's Rangitoto College were kept in isolation after they returned from Mexico on Saturday after a three-week language trip with flu-like symptoms.


"Ministry of Health officials advise me there is no guarantee these students have swine influenza, but they consider it likely," NZ Health Minister Tony Ryall said in a statement.


None are considered seriously ill and most seem to be on the road to recovery, he said.


Medical test results would be sent to the World Health Organisation laboratory in Melbourne to ascertain whether it was the H1N1 swine influenza, he said.


http://news.brisbanetimes.com.au/br...ustnt-panic-over-swine-flu-20090426-ajal.html
 
Re: NZ: Auckland students being tested for swine flu

Re: NZ: Auckland students being tested for swine flu

Hattip kiwibird
Summary of video
Students tested positive for Influenza A. Further testing is being done on samples in Melbourne.

NZ is now code yellow which mean increased surveillance.

Request for people from Flight NZ1 Saturday 5.00pm please contact GP or Health authority if they develop flu symptoms


http://www.3news.co.nz/Video/Studen...9/articleID/101271/cat/100/Default.aspx#video
 
Last edited:
Re: NZ: Auckland students being tested for swine flu

Re: NZ: Auckland students being tested for swine flu

A positive result for influenza for 10 students is "quite a shock", says the principal of North Shore's Rangitoto College.

There is no guarantee the 10 students had swine influenza, but it was considered it likely.

The Ministry of Health confirmed on Sunday evening that 10 of the 13 students tested had returned positive influenza results after three teachers and 22 senior students from the college returned yesterday from a three week language trip to Mexico.

The 10 tests will be sent to the World Health Organisation laboratory in Melbourne to confirm whether it is swine flu. It could take days for the results to be returned.

"We've got real concern and our feelings go out to the students and their families and it's a very difficult and worrying time for them," Rangitoto College principal David Hodge says.

"But also I guess that we're very proud that the staff and the families took the matter seriously right at the beginning."

The school would be operating as normal this week without the 22 students and the three staff, Hodge says.

He understood the Ministry was monitoring and testing all the students, even the ones who had not shown any symptoms.

"Everything that should be done and could be done is being done to make sure that if anybody's infected then the authority's will know about it and they'll get the proper treatment."

He understood for many of the students it would be up to a seven day wait before they could be given the all-clear that they would not infect anyone else, Hodge says.


He was impressed with the action taken by health agencies.

"They've pulled in people from everywhere on a Sunday to make sure that everything's been given the urgency and unfortunately that action has proved to be very wise - I mean had they left it."


http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/536641/2676090
 
Re: NZ: Auckland students being tested for swine flu

Re: NZ: Auckland students being tested for swine flu

Ten students from Rangitoto College who have returned from a trip to Mexico have tested positive for a type of influenza that may be swine flu.


The students flew back to Auckland from Los Angeles on Air New Zealand flight NZ1 on April 25, and passengers onboard that flight are being told to go to their doctor or other health professional if they develop flu-like symptoms.


Symptoms of swine flu in people are similar to those of seasonal influenza - sudden onset of fever, coughing, muscle aches and extreme tiredness. Swine flu appears to cause more diarrhea and vomiting than normal flu.


Swine influenza has not been shown to be transmissible to people through eating properly handled and prepared pork (pig meat) or other products derived from pigs.


Transmission among humans is thought to occur in the same way as seasonal flu - by touching something with flu viruses and then touching their mouth or nose, and through coughing or sneezing.


General advice to stop the spread of any type of influenza virus:
- Stay at home and away from others if you are sick
- Cover your coughs and sneezes with a tissue
- Put used tissues into a rubbish bin
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth - germs spread that way
- Be careful to wash hands often with soap and dry them thoroughly
- Keep surfaces clean at home, school and work.


Anybody experiencing warning signs of severe influenza illness such as rapid breathing, difficulty breathing, chest pain, severe vomiting or if a child is not responding or is difficult to wake up, should get urgent medical attention. Symptoms also include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headaches, chills, fatigue, diarrhoea and vomiting.


There is no vaccine to protect humans from swine flu although the CDC (Centres for Disease Control and Prevention) is formulating one.


http://tvnz.co.nz/health-news/factbox-how-swine-flu-spread-2676417
 
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