Japan's H1N1 flu epidemic spreads to Tokyo
Posted: 20 May 2009 2047
TOKYO : Japan's Influenza A (H1N1) flu epidemic spread to the capital Tokyo as a 16-year-old high school girl there tested positive for the virus on Wednesday, with the country's confirmed cases topping 250, officials said.
The girl, who lives in the western suburb of Hachioji, returned home from an eight-day trip to the US city of New York with her schoolmates on Tuesday and was cleared by a test at Tokyo's Narita airport, officials said.
Tokyo has almost 36 million people and is the world's most populous urban area. Experts had predicted it was only a matter of time before the flu hit the capital area.
"The student developed a fever while in flight from New York but she tested negative in rapid flu tests at Narita," Hideo Maeda, secretary of the city's welfare and health department said.
"She is hospitalised in Hachioji and has a fever, cough and a sore throat. But she is recovering well," Maeda told a news conference.
The health ministry said that the number of (A)H1N1 virus infections in Japan rose to 251, excluding the Tokyo case, as of late Wednesday.
They were mostly school students and were concentrated in three western prefectures, the ministry said.
Earlier Wednesday, the first case of H1N1 flu outside Hyogo and Osaka was confirmed in Shiga in a man in his 20s after he returned from a weekend trip to Kobe.
The commercial hub of Kobe, where the first domestic case was confirmed last Saturday, remained the worst affected with a total of 86 cases.
Kyodo news agency reported that 86 per cent of cases detected so far in Japan were in people between the ages of 10 and 19 - making it more prevalent among youth in Japan than it is in the United States, which has the most cases.
Experts said this may reflect a heavy focus by health authorities on testing in schools, although another possibility was a greater immunity among the elderly because of past flu epidemics.
Authorities have closed more than 4,400 schools, colleges and kindergartens for the rest of the week to slow the spread of the virus.
The government has urged calm, reminding people that no one in Japan has so far died of the disease and that most infections are mild.
The government may relax strict measures designed to minimise infections, said Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura.
Under the current rules, all people with H1N1 flu are asked to see physicians at designated clinics and be hospitalised, regardless of the severity of their symptoms.
Local mayors and physicians have complained that the measures are unrealistic and are placing too heavy a burden on local hospitals.
"We are considering various reviews, including allowing medical care (for H1N1 flu patients) in normal hospital wards," Kawamura said.
Posted: 20 May 2009 2047
TOKYO : Japan's Influenza A (H1N1) flu epidemic spread to the capital Tokyo as a 16-year-old high school girl there tested positive for the virus on Wednesday, with the country's confirmed cases topping 250, officials said.
The girl, who lives in the western suburb of Hachioji, returned home from an eight-day trip to the US city of New York with her schoolmates on Tuesday and was cleared by a test at Tokyo's Narita airport, officials said.
Tokyo has almost 36 million people and is the world's most populous urban area. Experts had predicted it was only a matter of time before the flu hit the capital area.
"The student developed a fever while in flight from New York but she tested negative in rapid flu tests at Narita," Hideo Maeda, secretary of the city's welfare and health department said.
"She is hospitalised in Hachioji and has a fever, cough and a sore throat. But she is recovering well," Maeda told a news conference.
The health ministry said that the number of (A)H1N1 virus infections in Japan rose to 251, excluding the Tokyo case, as of late Wednesday.
They were mostly school students and were concentrated in three western prefectures, the ministry said.
Earlier Wednesday, the first case of H1N1 flu outside Hyogo and Osaka was confirmed in Shiga in a man in his 20s after he returned from a weekend trip to Kobe.
The commercial hub of Kobe, where the first domestic case was confirmed last Saturday, remained the worst affected with a total of 86 cases.
Kyodo news agency reported that 86 per cent of cases detected so far in Japan were in people between the ages of 10 and 19 - making it more prevalent among youth in Japan than it is in the United States, which has the most cases.
Experts said this may reflect a heavy focus by health authorities on testing in schools, although another possibility was a greater immunity among the elderly because of past flu epidemics.
Authorities have closed more than 4,400 schools, colleges and kindergartens for the rest of the week to slow the spread of the virus.
The government has urged calm, reminding people that no one in Japan has so far died of the disease and that most infections are mild.
The government may relax strict measures designed to minimise infections, said Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura.
Under the current rules, all people with H1N1 flu are asked to see physicians at designated clinics and be hospitalised, regardless of the severity of their symptoms.
Local mayors and physicians have complained that the measures are unrealistic and are placing too heavy a burden on local hospitals.
"We are considering various reviews, including allowing medical care (for H1N1 flu patients) in normal hospital wards," Kawamura said.
