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| Sayf Udeen Ismaeel | Apr 28 2009, 08:27 AM |
Icon by meagan_chelsea @ LJ
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47 Australians tested for swine flu
FORTY-SEVEN people with suspected swine flu are being tested in Australia, with authorities searching for 300 others who could have come into contact with the disease. Health specialists have quarantined 12 people in South Australia, fearing they have been exposed to virus. SA Health chief medical officer Professor Paddy Phillips said preliminary tests had already cleared two of the 14 people originally identified as being at risk of having the flu. Five people in the ACT have been told to stay at home while they await test results, while three people are being tested in Western Australia. Ten people in New South Wales, mostly in Sydney, are currently being tested for the disease. The number of suspected cases doubled this in New South Wales morning after five more people presented to hospitals and GPs across Sydney Five of these people have come through the first stage of testing and have been found to have contracted an unidentifiable type A virus, federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon said. They will now need further tests to see if they have swine flu. NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant said the cases were serious enough to be concerned. "We are focusing on people who have got sick within seven days of travelling to countries affected and have developed flu-like symptoms," she said. "We are obviously acting in a precautionary manner." Fourteen others were being tested in Queensland , including two women detained on a Qantas flight from Los Angeles to Brisbane this morning. "Both of those people fell ill with flu-like symptoms," Queensland’s chief health officer Jeanette Young said. "They've been ill in the last 24 hours and they've had contact with people in Mexico." Health authorities were still awaiting the results of the two women after swabs were taken. It is not known how long the results will take to be process. Three people in Tasmania are also in isolation after presenting with flu-like symptoms following the swine flu outbreak. The state's health minister Lara Giddings one had returned from the United States and the other from Mexico in the last six to eight days. The 300 others authorities were searching for may have come into contact with the flu after sharing an Air New Zealand flight with a group of Auckland school children suspected as being infected with the disease, health experts said. Nine students and a teacher aboard the flight have tested positive for influenza A and New Zealand officials say test results later this week are expected to show they're suffering from swine flu. A further 56 people who've recently returned from America or Mexico with flu-like symptoms are being tested in New Zealand. Pandemic plans activated Early this morning the World Health Organisation (WHO) raised its flu pandemic alert level from three to four, signalling a "significant increase in risk of a pandemic." Acting WHO assistant-general for health, security and the environment Keiji Fukuda said experts agreed the virus is currently too "widespread to make containment a feasible". As a result, "focusing on mitigation is really an important focus" for countries dealing with the disease, he said. Mr Fukuda also stressed that experts did not recommend closing borders or restricting travel. "With the virus being widespread... closing borders or restricting travel really has very little effects in stopping the movement of this virus," he said. As the number of potential Australian cases grows, Queensland has become the first state to officially activate its pandemic plan alert. "The Queensland Health pandemic plan has been activated," Premier Anna Bligh said. "We are in the standby phase, making sure we have all the resources available across government if we do have an outbreak." Airport thermal screening yet to be introduced Australian airports are now on full alert for any passengers travelling from Mexico, US or Canada who appear sick. From midnight all pilots flying to Australia from affected countries were ordered to screen passengers and report suspect cases to quarantine officers. With the virus spreading rapidly, governments around the world are frantically activating influenza pandemic controls. But 30 thermal scanners which could help identify sick passengers are idle. The Federal Health Department bought about 30 thermal scanners in 2006 to combat any bird flu epidemic. Japan, Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia are employing them to identify potential flu victims crossing their borders. A Department of Health and Ageing spokeswoman said "the thermal imaging machines are not being deployed at this stage but this is being considered by our medical experts". The scanners, the size of a small hand-held video camera, can detect a patient with a fever from a metre away. More than $165,000 was spent testing the devices in 2006. In Mexico, where the disease originated, there have been 152 suspected swine flu deaths. Four hundred people are in hospital out of a total of 1600 suspected cases. At least 40 cases have now been confirmed in the U.S, six in Canada, two in Scotland and one in Spain. Swabs from 10 Auckland high school students, believed to have contracted the virus on a Spanish language trip to Mexico City, are due to arrive in Melbourne today for testing at a World Health Organisation (WHO) accredited laboratory. A further 56 people who have recently returned from America or Mexico to New Zealand and have flu-like symptoms are being tested. Symptoms of swine flu are similar to regular human flu and include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. In some cases people can experience diarrhoea and vomiting. Pneumonia and respiratory failure have been reported with swine flu infection in people. http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25397457-401,00.html |
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| Swine Flu · Headline news | |
5:25 AM Dec 6
