Confirmed swine flu cases at 117

Confirmed swine flu cases at 117

A New Zealander has given a small Gulf Arab country one of its first cases of swine flu, as Samoa tonight also confirmed its first case.

Qatar announced on Tuesday two cases of the H1N1 flu virus in two foreign children, including one from New Zealand.

It comes as the Health Ministry tonight revised the number of confirmed swine flu cases to 117.

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Are you having a swine flu party or do you know of anyone deliberately exposing themselves or their children to swine flu? Email editorial@stuff.co.nz or phone 04-4740098.

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The first case was a two-year-old boy from New Zealand who arrived on Saturday with his family from Austria and the second was a two-and-a-half-year old American boy who came from New York on Sunday via Bangladesh, Health Minister Abdullah al-Qahtani said in comments on state-run Qatar News Agency.

Flu cases have been detected in four other Gulf Arab states - Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Bahrain.

Meanwhile Samoa's Ministry of Health has confirmed its first swine flu case in a visiting Australian student.

Thirty students from a high school in Melbourne - where the flu is widespread - have been in quarantine since last week after four of them developed flu-like symptoms.

In New Zealand, the Pacific Islands Affairs Ministry has called on Pacific Islanders to stay at home if they show flu symptoms, after one Samoan woman spread the virus to nearly all the 39 people confirmed with having swine flu in Christchurch.

Of 23 cases confirmed earlier today, seven cases are in Auckland, three in Wellington and 13 in Christchurch.

Three schools - two in Auckland and one in Christchurch - have closed, while a number have partial closures in place.

The public interest in swine flu had been significant with 1500 calls answered at Healthline on Monday, almost double the usual amount.

Christchurch seafood processing plant Seafood Products Ltd sent all of its 90-odd staff home after two workers contracted swine flu, while some schools have closed for one week in an attempt to limit the flu's spread.

Principals across Canterbury are reporting high rates of absenteeism, with one school missing half of its pupils. Canterbury Primary Principals' Association president Denise Torrey said she had heard of many schools with high absences.

"We're not sure whether it's swine flu or whether it's mass hysteria. With it all being front page news, people think, 'Well, my kid is feeling a bit sniffly today; I won't send them', which is great because we don't want sick kids at school. [But] we'll have to see how we get on with those test results."

Health Minister Tony Ryall said that as the numbers of confirmed cases had risen over the past week, different strategies were being considered to deal with the outbreak.

But the Ministry of Health said that while the number of cases was increasing, there are still relatively few cases and only isolated instances of community transmission.

The Government was planning for a transition phase, where health services started to advise the public how not to spread the virus.

SWINE FLU PARTIES

Meanwhile the Health Ministry has warned against hosting "swine flu parties" following overseas concerns parents are deliberately exposing children.

The Canterbury District Health Board said all cases of the influenza A (H1N1) strain stemmed from a single case. That person contracted swine flu after visiting Victoria, Australia in early June.

Meanwhile, media reports in Australia and the United States say some parents have intentionally exposed their children to swine flu, believing that infecting them now will save them from a potentially more virulent strain in the future.

The trend has prompted the Australian government to warn against swine flu parties gatherings where people intentionally expose themselves to the flu, in order to become infected with the virus. The idea has also been panned by health experts here.

New Zealand's deputy director of public health Dr Fran McGrath said the tactic went completely against the Health Ministry's efforts to contain the virus.

"The reason we're doing [containment] is because this is a brand new virus to which people don't have immunity so there will be lots of people who get it," she said.

She said that if people deliberately made themselves ill this would have a huge impact on already-stretched health services. "...swine flu parties are definitely not part of our public health advice."

There was also no guarantee that getting sick now would lead to immunity in the future.

"We don't know what the nature of the mutation would be. If there were to be a second wave then it would be because of a mutation in the virus and you can't tell how big that mutation might be and therefore how useful any immunity from an earlier version would be."

"It may give you some [immunity] but we can't be sure about that."

The concept appears to have stemmed from chickenpox parties where parents would deliberately infect their children in the knowledge the virus was less serious in children than adults.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in United States, people hope to become affected from the mild form of the virus, in the hope of having natural immunity to a more virulent form that might circulate later.

Flu specialist Anne Moscona told the New York Times: "I can't believe people are really thinking of doing it. I understand the thinking, but I just fear we don't know enough about how this virus would react in every individual.

"This is like the Middle Ages, when people deliberately infected themselves with smallpox. It's vigilante vaccination you know, taking immunity into your own hands."

CANTERBURY CASES

Thirteen new cases have been confirmed in the Canterbury region.

All cases stemmed from a single person who had been in Victoria, Australia in early June and contracted swine flu.

All  those affected were being treated with Tamiflu and recent contacts were being traced.

The cases included six pupils from three schools in Christchurch's eastern suburbs, and a Minister in a Samoan Church who worked at Christchurch Hospital in the catering team.

A Christchurch seafood processing plant has also sent home all its factory staff after a second case of swine flu was discovered there.

Sea Products in Woolston sent home night shift workers yesterday after one staff member caught swine flu, but now the day shift has also been quarantined for three days with antiviral drug Tamiflu after a second case was confirmed.

The 100 workers will all be back to work by Friday.

"The catering team member had not been to work during the infectious stage of the illness," Canterbury medical officer of health Alistair Humphrey said.

Swine flu was a highly contagious disease, he said.

"Once someone who is infected is amongst other members of the community, including students and workmates, it is inevitable others will get sick," he said.

While most people do not become seriously unwell, the virus' potential effect on businesses, schools and the community was starting to show itself, Mr Humphrey said. In East Auckland primary school St Patrick's, in Panmure, yesterday sent all of its 145 pupils home for a week after having one confirmed case of swine flu, and a number of others suffering flu-like symptoms.

Bromley School in Christchurch has been closed for seven days by health officials to prevent the spread of swine flu.

A recorded message on the school's phone said all families would be contacted by the weekend with further information.

"Huge apologies for the disruption to family life,'' the message said.

The primary school has 320 pupils.

Other Auckland schools were also hit.

At Kowhai Intermediate, in central city Kingsland, one class of year eight students and a teacher were in quarantine.

Papatoetoe High School in South Auckland has one swine flu case, while on the North Shore at Westlake Girls' High School some 450 year 12 students are away for a week, after one case.

Health Ministry planning was to enable health services to manage large numbers of cases as well as maintain services for those who most need them, Dr McGrath said.

"An important part of this approach will include advising individuals how to look after themselves at home where this is possible – in the same way they would with seasonal flu."

Swine flu may be serious for some people and they should seek advice either from Healthline 0800 611 116 or their GP – but phone ahead first.

The new confirmed cases yesterday were in Auckland (two), Rotorua (one), Tauranga (two), Wellington (five) and Christchurch (five).

STOP THE SPREAD

The ministry has refined advice to arriving international travellers – only people with flu-like symptoms within four days of travel were now considered to be at risk of swine flu.

Workers should stay home only if they have flu-like symptoms or if they have had medical advice, the ministry said.

They should stay home for seven days after symptoms begin, or until symptom-free for 24 hours, whichever is longer.

This was to keep them from infecting others.

Hand hygiene was still the most effective protection – wash hands with soap and water and dry them thoroughly, the ministry advised.

Alcohol-based cleaners were also effective, and people should avoid touching their eyes, nose or mouth, as germs spread this way.

The Ministry of Health has moved its response to phase 6.2 which means restrictions could be placed on public gatherings and a state of emergency could be declared. It is the last phase before code red.

- By MICHAEL FOX, Stuff.co.nz with NZPA