Impact of Swine Flu in Thailand

Lab results also confirmed three students in the same group, two female and one male, who were suffering from flu-like symptoms and who were put in isolation at the Bamrasnaradura Institute were also negative.

Doctors would monitor symptoms of all 14 returnees again today before deciding whether they should be discharged from the hospital, Mr Manit said.

He said hard copy and online versions of handbooks giving prevention guidelines for individuals would also be published to inform the public about the new strain of flu virus.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recently renamed swine flu as influenza A (H1N1).

The heads of the United Nations and WHO say there are no imminent plans to raise the pandemic level of swine flu to its highest alert. Level 6 - the highest - would mean a global outbreak is under way. WHO raised the level to 5 last week.

In New York, UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon yesterday said WHO "has no plan to raise the alert level to 6 at this moment".

WHO chief Margaret Chan told the UN General Assembly by video link from Geneva that "we are not there yet".

Ms Chan said there were now 1,003 confirmed cases in 20 countries, and there was "no indication" the situation was similar to the Spanish flu in 1918.

According to WHO, there have been 25 confirmed fatalities from the virus in Mexico and one in the US.

Public Health Minister Witthaya Kaewparadai yesterday expressed concern over the lack of preparedness against the flu's transmission among immigration police at Suvarnabhumi airport, saying it could hamper control of the virus from spreading into Thailand. Speaking during a meeting on swine flu preparedness and treatment with doctors, Mr Witthaya said he was disappointed by the weak surveillance at the airport, particularly among immigration authorities.

"They should know how to protect themselves from any virus transmission," he said. "We warned them earlier to be more careful. But prevention measures are still lacking."
Mr Witthaya said he witnessed weak surveillance on Sunday night.

He said immigration officials asked travelers to take off their masks to check their identities but the officials themselves did not wear any protective gear.

Pol Maj Gen Pongdej Chaiprawat, immigration police chief at the airport, said health officials were in charge of checking symptoms of passengers using thermal scanners. Those who passed the scanner test would then come to see immigration police, he said.

Permanent Secretary for Public Health Prat Boonyawongvirot presided over the opening of the meeting at Dusit Thani hotel, attended by about 100 senior public health officials from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries plus their counterparts from China, Japan and South Korea.

Meanwhile, Metropolitan Police commissioner Worapong Chiewpreecha stationed at the commanding centre at the hotel.

He said both police and military teams are assigned to work together to provide security inside and outside the venue.

He said this meeting will boost confidence of foreign representatives, who will attend the next ASEAN meeting to be held in the Andaman Sea resort Island of Phuket in June.

The regional meeting is aimed to prevent the influenza outbreak in the region, which has a population of more than 500 million altogether.

It will also adjust disease control measures to be drafted as a regional cooperative framework, to be proposed to the public health ministers meeting on Friday for consideration.

The ASEAN+3 Health Ministers' special meeting has discussed the latest situation reports regarding the Influenza A (H1N1) outbreak, with the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) via a video teleconference.

Dr. Anne Schuchat, a senior official of the CDC said through the teleconference that the spread of the H1N1 is not severe as the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 because influenza A (H1N1) can be contained.

She said human H1N1 infections are not likely to come from pigs directly and that no pigs in the US have been detected with Influenza A (H1N1) virus, the variety of the virus found in human cases.

Speaking to fears that the influenza A (H1N1) may mutate into more virulent forms, she said that currently, the H1N1 virus detected in the US and Mexico is the same form and there has been no mutation at the moment.

Thai Minister of Public Health Witthaya Kaewparadai met his Chinese counterpart Chen Zhu.

He said China sees regional cooperation as being important and he is prepared to transfer technology in producing vaccines to ASEAN countries and to supply the antiviral drug oseltamivir if a pandemic occurs.

Meanwhile, many businesses in Mexico have re-opened after a five-day shutdown caused by the swine flu outbreak that killed 44 people, including two in the US.

Poland and Sweden confirmed their first cases of swine flu, which has now reached 24 countries.

In Thailand, there have been no cases detected under the surveillance and screening measures from April 28 to May 7. There were 18 suspected cases, of which 13 were confirmed free of the H1N1 virus and five cases are awaiting lab test results. (TNA)