Doctors urged to be vigilant

Doctors have been urged to be more vigilant when they come across flu-like symptoms as swine flu started spreading globally amid concerns that it might develop into a full-blown influenza pandemic.

The National Pandemic Steering Committee and the pandemic committee within the Health Division met yesterday afternoon to review the situation.

Although Malta has not had any suspected cases of the new influenza virus, the health authorities are keeping their eyes open and implementing preliminary measures to ensure preparedness in the eventuality of a feared pandemic.

Ray Busuttil, Director General for Public Health Regulation said the health authorities did not feel that anything else needed to be done for the time being, although he quickly added that this could change at any time. He insisted that there was still no cause for alarm and no pandemic had been announced.

"Life must go on and it's business as usual," he said, adding that there was still no indication of the need to wear masks in Malta.

Speaking during a press conference shortly after Europe confirmed its first case in Spain, Dr Busuttil called on people who visited Mexico over the past three weeks to contact the Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Department if they needed professional advice. Symptoms develop between seven and 10 days after exposure to the virus.

He admitted that it was not known how many people had been to Mexico recently and nobody had yet contacted the health authorities.

The disease was identified in Mexico last week and there are more than 1,600 cases under observation in the country, with some 150 people believed to have succumbed to the virus. Cases have also been confirmed in the United States, Canada and the UK, while suspected cases are being monitored in New Zealand, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, France and Italy.

Symptoms, like normal influenza, include high temperature, headache, coughs and aches and pains.

The new influenza is caused by the swine variant of the H1N1 strain, a common seasonal illness in pigs but which has to date not been prevalent among humans. There is no human vaccine available against the virus and experts have long warned that it would take between four and six months to develop one.

Back in 2005, Malta made arrangements to acquire vaccines against any virus causing a pandemic as soon as these became available. The country had also ordered 100,000 doses of influenza antivirals.

Dr Busuttil said there have not been any reports that the swine flu was resistant to the well-known antiviral Tamiflu. However, the pharmaceutical should not be used without first contacting the health authorities, he said.

Asked whether the fact that the flu season was almost over could be of help, Dr Busuttil said this would make any flu symptoms more suspicious. The fact that summer is on the doorstep might also help from an epidemiological point of view, although this might also mean the return of a more virulent strain in winter.