Thursday, 11th June 2009 - 12:49CET
UPDATE 2: Malta denies link to German H1N1 flu cases
Information held by the German authorities about an H1N1 patient who had reportedly been to Malta recently was only preliminary and no detailed information was available yet, Parliamentary Secretary Mario Galea said today.
Reuters quoted medical authorities in Duesseldorf as saying this morning that 30 cases of the H1N1 flu had been reported at a school in the city, the most concentrated outbreak of the virus so far in Europe's largest economy. One of the students had recently been to Malta.
Mr Galea insisted that Malta had no reported cases of the virus.
"We are in constant contact with the German authorities but their information is only preliminary. They have told us they still need to look into this student's itinerary and who he could have been in contact with, and where," Mr Galea told timesofmalta.com.
The parliamentary secretary, who is heading the government's preparations against any outbreak of the virus, reiterated that the Maltese authorities investigated even the slightest suspicion of the flu, but nothing has turned up.
He also pointed out that the Health Department had today started mailing to all households an information leaflet on precautions which the people could take against H1N1. The leaflet was printed 10 days ago but its mailing was postponed amid fears that it would be thrown away by people as it got mixed up with the election mail shots.
The health ministry in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia was reported saying this morning that the majority of the cases at a Japanese school in the city were detected yesterday evening.
Additional confirmed infections were likely to emerge, said Kathrin Rebbe, a spokesman for the ministry.
Parents of the infected children and people who had been in contact with them would be tested today, said Heiko Schneitler, head of the city health's authority. Most of the children affected were Japanese, he said.
The children are now in quarantine, he added.
The school has been closed until the end of next week, said Hiromi Kida, a senior official at the school.
Duesseldorf is home to a large Japanese community.
Rebbe at the NRW health ministry said four additional cases of H1N1 had been been detected at a school in nearby Cologne.
Germany had 86 confirmed cases of H1N1 prior to the school infections, according to the Robert Koch Institute, the country's federal agency for infectious diseases.
VIRUS ALERT LEVEL RAISED
Meanwhile, after the WHO this afternoon declared declared the H1N1 virus a pandemic, the Health Pandemic Committee and National Strategic Pandemic Committee met to review the state of local preparations and the possible impact of the virus on Malta.
The authorities reiterated that no cases had been reported in Malta.
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Comments
This only goes to prove that the majority of people don't bother to read the mountain of paper that is slipped through their letter-boxes. Politicians should realise that this is a waste of paper and money the distribution of important pamphlets such as the ones concerning swine fever, was put on the back burner.
I can only say one thing - In December and again a month ago children in of a certain CHURCH school had Scarlet Fever, but the School was not closed because parents where told not to tell the authorities and keep it hush hush.
In this way in Malta there might be H1N1 but being the Tourist season it would scare all the Tourists away.
Do all the airports and seaports in Germany have a thermal imaging system to monitor people coming in with a high fever? If not, how can the German authorities know whether patients contracted the H1N1 virus before they arrived in Germany, and not afterwards, somewhere else in Germany itself? Are we monitoring visitors who are coming from countries where the H1NI virus has been detected?
Perhaps the time has come for thermal imaging systems similar to the one below to be installed at the airport and seaport, in the interests of ourselves and our visitors, including cruise passengers. Fortunately, the majority of cases are not very serious, but the situation could change.
http://www.tempsensornews.com/thermal_imaging/system-for-swine-fluh1n1-detection-more/
I understood previous comments as if someone was "blaming" Malta. In that respect no article is pointing the finger towards Malta. How could someone. It's a virus. It spreads without respecting boarders.
Mentioning where the family travelled to and from on the other hand is giving a valid and important information to prevent it from spreading.
@ Herr Schaffrath
Frankfurter Rundschau
http://www.fr-online.de/in_und_ausland/panorama/1793197_Duesseldorf-46-Kinder-mit-Schweinegrippe-infiziert.html
Focus
http://www.focus.de/gesundheit/ratgeber/schweinegrippe/schweinegrippe-30-schulkinder-in-duesseldorf-infiziert_aid_407217.html
Die Welt Online
http://www.welt.de/wissenschaft/medizin/article3906595/Schweinegrippe-Schueler-mit-Massentest-gecheckt.html
n-tv
http://www.n-tv.de/panorama/dossier/Massentests-an-Schule-article349923.html
WDR
http://www.wdr.de/themen/gesundheit/krankheit/schweinegrippe/090611.jhtml
Ärzte Zeitung
http://www.aerztezeitung.de/medizin/krankheiten/?sid=552627
@ Herr Schaffrath
In the 06.00h news that was broadcast by WDR 2, which is located in North Rhine Westphalia, as is Düsseldorf, there was again mention of Malta.
46 schoolchildren attending the Japanese International School in Düsseldorf are now considered to be suffering from swine flu.
that country has a frontier that 's used by ppl from all over the world. there are ppl coming in and out in many thousands every day, so for them to report about the student that had been to Malta was like turning to the final straw when there was already a ton on the camel's back.
We are relatively isolated compared to countries in the continent. Of course, does not mean we're immune.
True, this should still be taken seriously by maltese authorities to take all necessary precautions. I hope they have in fact checked where this student was in Malta.
Is there any possibility that this German student could have been infected before he came to Malta? Do the authorities know this student’s identity? Do they know where he was staying and for how long.? Do they have any idea with whom such a student was in contact with and the places he visited while in Malta?
Perhaps the time has come for our authorities to set up the appropriate equipment at the airport and the seaport that might give an indication of people that could be running a high temperature. This equipment was used at the airport in Singapore during the time of the Avian flu a few years ago.
It is in the interests of the visitors and ourselves to monitor the situation and take immediate action before the H1N1 virus spreads or gets out of hand.
I have just watched the 15.00h news on German National TV and Malta was indeed mentioned by name.
Would it not be the urgent duty of the Embassy of Malta in Berlin to counter-act officially?
If it is a fact that they have 30 students that are sick and one of them recently was in malta, shoud they just ignore it? Its actually good that they say soemthing so the local authorities can check if people he was in contact with are effected.
Nobody is pointing fingers at anyone here. I think you have mis-interpreted the article or the article's title.
This is not a question of apportioning blame to Malta. If this patient genuinely contacted the disease here, then I think the authorities should know about it asap so that adequate precautions can be taken.
If the German authorities reported that one of the students had recently been in Malta then it's nothing but an eye opener. They are not 'blaming' Malta for anything. A country has nothing to do with the spread of a virus.
Very EU-friendly indeed. !