Japanese boy 'was not infectious'
Malta still virus free
A group of students arrive at the swine flu clinic at the Banyule Community Health Centre in Melbourne yesterday, as the government plays down the threat from swine flu, leaving its alert level unchanged despite the announcement of the first global pandemic in 40 years. Swine flu has exploded in Australia this month, making it the fifth most affected country worldwide by the A(H1N1) influenza virus. The number of cases rose rapidly after infected passengers were allowed to leave a cruise ship in Sydney before fanning out into the community. Only the United States, Mexico, Canada and Chile have more infections. (AFP)
The Japanese boy who fell ill with swine flu after holidaying in Gozo could not have infected anyone while on the island because he left before showing symptoms, the health authorities said yesterday.
"You need to have symptoms to be infectious and since he was not symptomatic while on the island, he could not have infected anyone," Community Care Parliamentary Secretary Mario Galea said.
He stressed that Malta was still free of the virus.
The Japanese boy was one of 30 confirmed cases of the H1N1 flu at a school in the western German city of Dusseldorf. The World Health Organisation raised its pandemic alert level to the maximum of six.
The local authorities are trying to determine whether the youngster, who was travelling with his father and three-year-old brother, stopped in other countries after leaving Gozo on May 24.
Mr Galea said that the possibility that the child was infected in Malta was "extremely remote if not impossible" because Malta had no reported cases.
After the German media mentioned a link between the case and Malta on Thursday, the Maltese Embassy in Germany yesterday issued a statement saying there were no cases on the island and the boy was asymptomatic while holidaying in Gozo.
Charmaine Gauci, who heads the Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Department, said the authorities were being extremely vigilant to ensure they were immediately alerted if the virus were to surface in Malta.
Three people whose symptoms were suspicious enough to deserve laboratory testing proved to be negative for the virus.
"We are erring on the side of caution," Public Health Regulation director general Ray Busuttil said.
Although on Thursday the WHO declared the first pandemic in 41 years, swine influenza is not considered a severe virus and the reported deaths - a total of 146 - were mostly among people who had underlying chronic conditions.
"Swine flu is of moderate intensity," Dr Gauci said.
Swine flu, which originated in Mexico earlier this year, is completely different from the dreaded avian influenza, which until recently was thought to cause the next influenza pandemic.
Dr Busuttil said the infection rate of swine flu was predicted at 25 per cent - the same as for the H5N1 avian flu. However, the mortality rate dropped from a staggering 50 to 60 per cent for bird flu to some two to three per cent.
According to data released by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, there were 294 new cases reported in the EU and the European Free Trade Area between 5 p.m. on Thursday and 5 p.m. yesterday.
Another 29 were reported in other European countries while Guatemala reported its first death and Morocco and the Occupied Palestine Territories reported their first cases.
Information leaflets are being distributed to all households. Information is also available on www.health.gov.mt/dsu.
Factbox 1
How to protect yourself from influenza...
• Wash your hands regularly with soapy water.
• Avoid hugs, kisses and handshakes.
• Wash your hands before touching your eyes, mouth or nose.
• Regularly clean surfaces, including door handles, with a normal cleaning product.
• Try to avoid contact with sick people.
.... and others.
• Cover your mouth with a disposable tissue when you cough or sneeze and dispose of the tissue.
• If you have flu symptoms stay at least one metre away from other people.
• Don't go to work, school or elsewhere if you have the flu.
Factbox 2
Highlights of swine flu's journey around the world
Mid-March 2009: The first cases of swine flu are reported in Mexico when 60 per cent of the population of La Gloria gets sick.
March 28: The first case is reported in the US when a nine-year-old Californian girl falls ill. More cases are reported in the US in subsequent days.
April 12: A 39-year-old woman dies of severe viral pneumonia in Mexico - this is believed to be the earliest swine flu fatality.
April 25: WHO chief Margaret Chan calls the influenza "a public health emergency of international concern".
April 27: The first cases are reported in Canada, Spain and the EU.
April 29: The WHO raises its pandemic level alert to phase five, sending a strong signal that a pandemic is imminent. A baby dies in Texas, in the first swine flu death outside Mexico.
May: More countries continue to report cases of swine flu.
June 3: The first case is reported in Africa.
June 11: The WHO raises its alert level to phase six, declaring the first full-blown influenza pandemic in 41 years.
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Michael Bonello
Jun 14th 2009, 08:35
'I sometime think, the whole thing about swine flu is a deliberately developed man-made virus just to revive the almost bankrupted pharmaceutical companies'
If that is your thinking, its better not to think at all...
again i ask, is there a system in place, were a GP can go swab an apparent Flu ?Swine FLu at home, without the patient having to go to hospital??
Are the Medical Staff aware of full personal protective equipment they need to wear if a case comes back of ?Swine Flu? (And other viral haemorrhagic fevers?)
Or bhal Gahan malti, we just send these ppl in the middle of a waiting area in Hospital, waiting for about 8 hrs infecting everybody in the processs??
Matthew Spagnol
Jun 13th 2009, 12:04
People please read this article before believing all that is written:
http://www.freedomsphoenix.com/Article/051552-2009-06-10-readying-americans-for-dangerous-mandatory-vaccinations.htm
Extract:
MSEHPA is now "track(ing) legal responses to the emerging international response to the 2009 H1N1 (swine flu) outbreak, including declarations of public health emergency at the international, national, state, and local levels...." even though forensic evidence can't confirm any H1N1 deaths. No emergency exists anywhere, and reporting one is all hype to sell dangerous drugs to unsuspecting people globally.
A. Muscat
Jun 13th 2009, 10:31
Is the swine flu a symptom of the credit crunch?
I mean, why all this fuss? There are thousands of peoples die every day because of normal flu, smoking, drugs ,alcohol related problem…etc.
In Africa for instance a child dies every 3 minutes, not because of a swine flu but of hunger or water shortages. And the miserable list of causes of death goes unnoticed.
I sometime think, the whole thing about swine flu is a deliberately developed man-made virus just to revive the almost bankrupted pharmaceutical companies.