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Changes to H1N1 tracking
A hospital staff screening patients with a thermal scanner at Tan Tock Seng hospital in May. On Tuesday, MOH said Singapore had 1,217 H1N1 cases. -- PHOTO: AP
THE Ministry of Health (MOH) is no longer tracking the total number of Influenza A (H1N1) infections here. In a statement on Wednesday, it said the action was being taken after the World Health Organisation (WHO) told countries that they were no longer required to submit regular reports on confirmed cases and deaths.
WHO said that since H1N1 is now endemic to countries worldwide, laboratory testing of suspect cases and reporting of confirmed numbers is no longer a useful monitoring tool. Instead, it will ask countries with large numbers of cases to collect more macro-trends of the disease.
Mr Keiji Fukuda, WHO's interim assistant director-general, told wire agencies that with 137 countries and territories having reported over 98,000 cases, including over 440 deaths, 'we are now at a place in which changing the surveillance approach makes a lot of sense for many countries'.
In countries where many cases have been reported, he said, it is now necessary to move towards looking for 'larger national indicators of the disease' including following influenza-like illnesses or pneumonia cases. However, he added that countries would still be asked to test cases that appeared to be unusual, so they could be recorded. He did not elaborate on what he meant by 'unusual'.
In Singapore, MOH said it would track H1N1 in two ways.
First, it will keep tabs on the proportion of H1N1 infections among all tested flu cases here.
As of this week, 13 per cent of patients with flu-like symptoms were infected with H1N1.
The ministry will update this figure weekly.
It will also track the number of H1N1 patients who have been hospitalised with more severe symptoms, and who may have underlying medical conditions. As of Tuesday, 85 such at-risk patients were in hospitals, including one man in intensive care.
In its last update on Tuesday, the ministry said 1,217 H1N1 cases had been confirmed here. MOH will also stop listing the number of cases from affected countries on flu website http://www.h1n1.gov.sg
Changes to H1N1 tracking
A hospital staff screening patients with a thermal scanner at Tan Tock Seng hospital in May. On Tuesday, MOH said Singapore had 1,217 H1N1 cases. -- PHOTO: AP
THE Ministry of Health (MOH) is no longer tracking the total number of Influenza A (H1N1) infections here. In a statement on Wednesday, it said the action was being taken after the World Health Organisation (WHO) told countries that they were no longer required to submit regular reports on confirmed cases and deaths.
WHO said that since H1N1 is now endemic to countries worldwide, laboratory testing of suspect cases and reporting of confirmed numbers is no longer a useful monitoring tool. Instead, it will ask countries with large numbers of cases to collect more macro-trends of the disease.
Mr Keiji Fukuda, WHO's interim assistant director-general, told wire agencies that with 137 countries and territories having reported over 98,000 cases, including over 440 deaths, 'we are now at a place in which changing the surveillance approach makes a lot of sense for many countries'.
In countries where many cases have been reported, he said, it is now necessary to move towards looking for 'larger national indicators of the disease' including following influenza-like illnesses or pneumonia cases. However, he added that countries would still be asked to test cases that appeared to be unusual, so they could be recorded. He did not elaborate on what he meant by 'unusual'.
In Singapore, MOH said it would track H1N1 in two ways.
First, it will keep tabs on the proportion of H1N1 infections among all tested flu cases here.
As of this week, 13 per cent of patients with flu-like symptoms were infected with H1N1.
The ministry will update this figure weekly.
It will also track the number of H1N1 patients who have been hospitalised with more severe symptoms, and who may have underlying medical conditions. As of Tuesday, 85 such at-risk patients were in hospitals, including one man in intensive care.
In its last update on Tuesday, the ministry said 1,217 H1N1 cases had been confirmed here. MOH will also stop listing the number of cases from affected countries on flu website http://www.h1n1.gov.sg
