H1N1 outbreak spreading like wildfire in S'pore
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/world/33727-h1n1-outbreak-raging-in-singapore
The Malaysian Insider, 30 Jul 2009
H1N1 outbreak raging in Singapore
SINGAPORE, July 30 — The H1N1 flu bug is spreading like wildfire, more than doubling the number of people down with influenza.
With the outbreak set to peak in the next week or two, polyclinic attendances for upper respiratory tract infections have shot past epidemic levels — pegged at 16,665 cases a week — for the first time in more than three years.
Polyclinic attendances are a yardstick for the number of infectious diseases, such as flu, diarrhoea and conjunctivitis, in the wider community.
As they generally treat about 20 per cent of patients with acute ailments, the national figure would be roughly five times that.
Two weeks ago, attendances for infections of the upper respiratory tract crossed the epidemic threshold, with 18,705 cases. Last week they climbed further, to 22,880 cases.
Normally, polyclinics see around 13,340 patients a week who have coughs, colds, the flu or flare-ups of chronic illnesses like asthma.
The number is usually about a fifth of the 75,000 patients that the clinics see altogether in a week.
This month, such infections accounted for more than a quarter of all cases.
It is not known how many of these were caused by Influenza A (H1N1).
Only about one in five such patients is clinically diagnosed with the flu, said Dr Derek Tse, Assistant Director of Clinical Services at SingHealth Polyclinics.
Among these, most have only mild bouts of illness and do not need the antiviral medicine, Tamiflu.
Tse said the vast majority needed only conventional medicine to treat their symptoms, which included fever, as well as plenty of rest.
A Health Ministry spokesman attributed the big increase in patient numbers to “sustained community spread of H1N1” — a state of affairs Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan had talked about several weeks ago.
With no immunity to the new strain, it is spreading quickly. Estimates are that more than one in two people with influenza have the H1N1 virus.
So far, five people here have died of it. Worldwide, there have been more than 800 deaths.
The MOH spokesman said numbers are expected to stay high for another week or two as the epidemic peaks.
She added: “We urge the public to seek medical treatment promptly if they are unwell and to continue exercising social responsibility.”
Healthy people are also heading to clinics in droves to be vaccinated against the seasonal flu, which is in full swing in the Southern Hemisphere.
The nearly 40 clinics owned by the Raffles Medical Group have seen a 50 per cent jump in demand compared to before H1N1 hit the headlines.
Dr Chng Shih Kiat, its deputy medical director, puts down the increase to heightened awareness of flu in general.
He recommended that the elderly and those with chronic illnesses, who are at higher risk of severe illness should they get infected, should be inoculated against seasonal flu.
Meanwhile, three new patients, including a three-year-old boy, are in intensive care. The child suffers from a genetic storage disease and has been admitted to the intensive care unit at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital.
The other two are a 64-year-old woman who has a history of stroke and heart disease and a 45-year-old man who has chronic obstructive lung disease and previously suffered a heart attack.
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/world/33727-h1n1-outbreak-raging-in-singapore
The Malaysian Insider, 30 Jul 2009
H1N1 outbreak raging in Singapore
SINGAPORE, July 30 — The H1N1 flu bug is spreading like wildfire, more than doubling the number of people down with influenza.
With the outbreak set to peak in the next week or two, polyclinic attendances for upper respiratory tract infections have shot past epidemic levels — pegged at 16,665 cases a week — for the first time in more than three years.
Polyclinic attendances are a yardstick for the number of infectious diseases, such as flu, diarrhoea and conjunctivitis, in the wider community.
As they generally treat about 20 per cent of patients with acute ailments, the national figure would be roughly five times that.
Two weeks ago, attendances for infections of the upper respiratory tract crossed the epidemic threshold, with 18,705 cases. Last week they climbed further, to 22,880 cases.
Normally, polyclinics see around 13,340 patients a week who have coughs, colds, the flu or flare-ups of chronic illnesses like asthma.
The number is usually about a fifth of the 75,000 patients that the clinics see altogether in a week.
This month, such infections accounted for more than a quarter of all cases.
It is not known how many of these were caused by Influenza A (H1N1).
Only about one in five such patients is clinically diagnosed with the flu, said Dr Derek Tse, Assistant Director of Clinical Services at SingHealth Polyclinics.
Among these, most have only mild bouts of illness and do not need the antiviral medicine, Tamiflu.
Tse said the vast majority needed only conventional medicine to treat their symptoms, which included fever, as well as plenty of rest.
A Health Ministry spokesman attributed the big increase in patient numbers to “sustained community spread of H1N1” — a state of affairs Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan had talked about several weeks ago.
With no immunity to the new strain, it is spreading quickly. Estimates are that more than one in two people with influenza have the H1N1 virus.
So far, five people here have died of it. Worldwide, there have been more than 800 deaths.
The MOH spokesman said numbers are expected to stay high for another week or two as the epidemic peaks.
She added: “We urge the public to seek medical treatment promptly if they are unwell and to continue exercising social responsibility.”
Healthy people are also heading to clinics in droves to be vaccinated against the seasonal flu, which is in full swing in the Southern Hemisphere.
The nearly 40 clinics owned by the Raffles Medical Group have seen a 50 per cent jump in demand compared to before H1N1 hit the headlines.
Dr Chng Shih Kiat, its deputy medical director, puts down the increase to heightened awareness of flu in general.
He recommended that the elderly and those with chronic illnesses, who are at higher risk of severe illness should they get infected, should be inoculated against seasonal flu.
Meanwhile, three new patients, including a three-year-old boy, are in intensive care. The child suffers from a genetic storage disease and has been admitted to the intensive care unit at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital.
The other two are a 64-year-old woman who has a history of stroke and heart disease and a 45-year-old man who has chronic obstructive lung disease and previously suffered a heart attack.
