Re: NZ Suspected Swine Flu Cases April 26+
Re: NZ Suspected Swine Flu Cases April 26+
All but one of the Rangitoto College students suspected to have swine flu has recovered from their symptoms but a swine flu cloud now hangs over 66 people in New Zealand. Ten Rangitoto students are awaiting results from Melbourne to tell them whether or not they have swine flu after they tested positive for influenza A, which is linked to the new virus.
Principal David Hodge says only one student who already suffers from asthma is still unwell. He says the girl is feeling uncomfortable and that's cause for concern given the situation.
Hodge says the students concerned are still being kept in isolation and are becoming impatient.
Still under a cloud
Meanwhile, contact has been made with all but 18 passengers who were on the flight with a group which returned from Mexico.
Ten of those people are from the Rangitoto College group which landed in Auckland on Saturday and have since tested positive for influenza A. They now await test results for the potentially lethal swine flu.
Julia Peters, from the Auckland Public Health Service, said results were not expected until late in the week.
She admitted at a media conference on Tuesday that samples were only sent to a specialist lab in Melbourne on Monday, as opposed to the weekend, but said they had needed special preparation and packaging.
Peters said the Melbourne lab had promised high priority in analysing the samples.
Another 56 people around the country have been tested for influenza A after having returned from Mexico or the United States in the last fortnight and showing flu-like symptoms.
They have been offered Tamiflu and asked to stay home while they await test results. Three others from a
Northcote College group who also returned on Saturday from a trip to Mexico have tested negative for the flu.
Ministry of Health officials said on Tuesday morning the 18 people who hadn't been traced from Air New Zealand flight NZ1, which included the Rangitoto group, would be difficult to find as they may be transient passengers.
Passengers on flight NZ5, which had the Northcote College group, were initially being traced, but the urgency has been mitigated by the negative tests.
Health Minister Tony Ryall said they were now in the same category as anyone who had returned from Mexico or the United States in the last fortnight.
They should be vigilant about contacting their GP if flu-like symptoms occurred and would be offered Tamiflu.
Other New Zealanders needed to respond to flu-like symptoms as they always had.
"It's a time for caution and concern, but not alarm," Ryall said.
Public Health director Mark Jacobs said it was likely there was an increased rush of people getting checked for flu symptoms.
He said it was the time of the year when common cold and flu viruses struck and urged the public not to panic if there was no reason to suspect anything worse.
Meanwhile, health personnel continued to screen passengers arriving in Auckland who had been in either Mexico or the United States.
The swine flu virus has killed close to 150 people in Mexico and infected dozens in the United States, Canada and Europe.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has on Tuesday
raised its pandemic alert level to phase 4 , indicating a significant increased risk of a pandemic, a global outbreak of a serious disease.
Prime Minister John Key said the increased rating showed an "increased possibility of a pandemic but it's not a forgone conclusion by any stretch of the imagination".
"From New Zealand's point of view I think we've got a good plan, we're administering that.
"I'm confident that we are doing everything we can."
Opposition leader Phil Goff agreed the situation was generally being handled well here.
"This is potentially a very serious situation for New Zealand and New Zealanders ... but there were contingency plans there, there was training to implement them, there is the Tamiflu available.
"All of those things are absolutely essential."
While swine flu cases have been identified in Mexico and US states, WHO and other health authorities are yet to recommend against travelling to those areas.
New Zealand's Health Ministry said it was closely following WHO advice.
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/students-recover-but-flu-cloud-still-hangs-2683430
More coffee please!
