Ukraine closes all schools to fight swine flu

Urging its citizens not to panic, Ukraine on Monday closed the nation’s schools for a week to avoid the spread of swine flu and suggested that nightclubs, cinemas and food markets in the west also shut down.

The World Health Organization said Monday there was no evidence that Ukraine had a bad outbreak of swine flu but at the government’s request it had sent a health team there to help the country cope.

“But this is not an indication that the situation is severe,” said WHO spokeswoman Liuba Negru. “The information we have gotten (from the government), we have to double-check it and make sure it is real, evidence-based information.”

A woman wears a face mask as a precaution against flue at a bus stop in Kiev, Ukraine, Monday, Nov. 2, 2009, with a poster advertising presidential candidate former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, in the background.

Ukraine’s Health Ministry said Monday that 70 people in the nation of 40 million have died of flu, but did not say how many of those deaths were related to swine flu. Worldwide, outbreaks of regular seasonal flu claim 50,000 lives each year.

Nevertheless, all schools have been closed for a week across Ukraine, even in the capital, Kiev, where there have been no confirmed cases of swine flu.

In western Ukraine, local authorities advised people to travel only when necessary, a Health Ministry spokeswoman said.

All outdoor markets have been closed in the western region of Lviv, where the governor also urged cinemas, cafes, nightclubs and theaters to shut down until further notice.

Some observers, including the speaker of the parliament, Vladimir Litvin, suggested that these measures are the result of political wrangling ahead of the country’s presidential election in January. The pivotal vote could overturn the 2004 Orange Revolution that swept a pro-Western government to power.

“We are seeing a political competition to see who will be the first to lead this process (of fighting swine flu),” Litvin said, according to the UNIAN news agency.

Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko met a Swiss shipment of anti-viral drugs at the Kiev airport on Monday.

“The government has declared the situation an epidemic, but there is absolutely no need to panic,” she declared on national television.

Her main rival, President Viktor Yushchenko, said thousands of people were infected and called for assistance from NATO, the European Commission, the United States, Russia and other countries.

Konstantin Bondarenko, director of the Gorshenin Institute, a political consultancy, said that Tymoshenko has the most to lose from public sentiment over the outbreak, as state health officials answer to her.

“Right now all the candidates are weighing their political options, looking around for a theme, and this is a very hot topic right now. The panic is there, and they are acting on it,” Bondarenko said.

After receiving the shipment of 300,000 doses of Tamiflu at Kiev‘s Borispol airport, Tymoshenko said her government plans to increase its hoard of the drug by another 300,000 to 950,000 doses.

“This is the supply that will reliably protect Ukraine,” Tymoshenko said, ITAR-Tass news agency reported.

Viktor Yanukovych, the Regions’ Party candidate for the presidency, has not commented on the swine flu uproar. Yanukovych, who was beaten in 2005 by Yushchenko, is leading in the polls with a platform that emphasizes closer ties with Russia.

During the past five years of Yushchenko’s presidency, relations with Moscow reached historic lows. Yushchenko’s approval ratings at home have fallen to single digits in the wake of the economic crisis, which hit Ukraine hard, and years of political gridlock with Tymoshenko.

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Health Ministry plans 1.5mil free doses of swine flu vaccine

Health Ministry plans 1.5mil free doses of swine flu vaccine

QĐND – Friday, October 30, 2009, 20:48 (GMT+7)

Deputy health minister Trinh Quan Huan said on October 29 that the ministry is about to submit to the government a plan to vaccinate around 500,000 highly-risk individuals against A/H1N1.

Huan said at first, free vaccination will be provided to 500,000 people, including pregnant women, those suffering chronic diseases and, healthcare workers treating A/H1N1 patients in some provinces and cities with high numbers of swine flu cases like Hanoi and HCM City. 

Nguyen Tran Hien, director of the Central Epidemiology Institute, said these people have to show documents proving their health conditions. 

Besides the above 500,000 vaccine doses, the World Health Organisation (WHO) will also supply Vietnam 1 million doses, although the date is yet to be fixed, Huan announced. 

Vietnam only permits the import of vaccines that are recommended by the WHO, which have been used safely in the US and Europe. 

GSK will start to import A/H1N1 vaccine to Vietnam from  December 2009. 

Source: VietNamNet/Tuoi Tre 

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Swine flu plan needs accurate forecasting

HA NOI — Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan has asked the Ministry of Health (MoH) to provide an accurate forecast for the A/H1N1 flu situation in order to set up an appropriate plan for pandemic prevention.

Nhan was speaking yesterday at the weekly meeting of the Steering Committee for A/H1N1 flu pandemic prevention in Ha Noi.

“Lower level hospitals should especially strengthen their treatment procedures in order to reduce pressure on crowded central hospitals”.

He also suggested that the health sector could use military hospitals to treat non-military personnel infected with the flu.

The Ministry of Health also reported that a pregnant woman living in Xuan Que Commune in Dong Nai Province became the 16th death caused by the flu.

The 15-year-old woman was hospitalised in the Dong Nai General Hospital on September 25. She was sent to the Cho Ray Hospital the following day, where doctors performed an operation in order to save her child. The HCM City‘s Pasteur Institute on September 29 confirmed that she was infected with A/H1N1.

The patient died later that day.

The baby did survive the operation and was in good health and released from the hospital yesterday.

Director of the Preventive Medicine and Environment Department Nguyen Huy Nga said that 14 out of 15 fatalities caused by A/H1N1 belonged to high-risk groups. Only two of the 15 had been treated with Tamiflu within 48 hours of contracting the flu.

Nga also said that the ministry would issue instructions concerning A/H1N1 to homes soon to cope with overcrowded hospitals.

The National Institute of Infectious and Tropical Diseases has been receiving 250-300 people a day, who need influenza examinations.

As of yesterday the country reported 205 A/H1N1 new flu cases, which brings the country’s total to 9,058 reported cases, including 16 fatalities. Nationwide, only four provinces of Bac Can, Cao Bang, Dien Bien and Lai Chau have yet to report any A/H1N1 cases. —

Source: vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn

Pregnant woman’s death marks nation’s 15th swine flu casualty

HA NOI — A pregnant woman in HCM City died yesterday from swine flu, becoming the fifteenth fatality in Viet Nam, said Nguyen Huy Nga, director of the Preventive Medicine and Environment Department.

According to the HCM City Health Department, the woman, who lived in Can Gio District, was 28 weeks pregnant at the time of her death.

She was admitted to Can Gio District Hospital with a fever and flu-like symptoms on September 22.

The 21-year-old woman was sent to HCM City’s Heart Institute where she was put in intensive care and put on a ventilator. She was also treated with Tamiflu, Nga said.

The HCM City Pasteur Institute confirmed that the woman had tested positive for the A/H1N1 virus on September 23. She died on Sunday.

The department earlier reported that a 13-year-old boy had died of A/H1N1 flu on September 25. The patient, who was obese, lived in Can Duoc District, southern Long An Province. He had developed flu-like symptoms four days before being taken to Can Duoc District General Hospital with a high fever, and breathing difficulties. He was sent to the HCM City Tropical Diseases Institute where he was put in intensive care.

He died two days later from pneumonia, respiratory failure due to the A/H1N1 virus, which was aggravated by his high blood pressure. He also suffered kidney failure, according to the department.

The Health Ministry yesterday reported 248 new A/H1N1 flu cases, of which 213 are in the south, 20 in the north, nine in the central provinces and six in the Central Highlands.

As of yesterday, there have been 8,853 A/H1N1 flu cases reported in Viet Nam.

A temporary hospital set up a month ago in HCM City’s District 3 to monitor and treat influenza A/H1N1 patients can be replicated nationwide, an official from the city’s Department of Health said on Monday.

The 100-bed hospital has received and treated 200 patients, 170 of whom tested positive for swine flu. No case was transferred to regular city hospitals, said Phan Van Nghiem, head of the HCM City Health Department’s Medical Profession Office.

The hospital has three wards including one for health personnel, one for check-ups and the other for treating and quarantining patients with symptoms of swine flu pending test result.—

Source: vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn

Death in Ben Tre confirmed as tenth swine flu fatality

Patients being treated in southern Binh Dinh Province. Another flu fatality was reported on Monday. — VNA/VNS Photo Duong Ngoc

HA NOI — A 59-year-old woman who died on Monday in southern Ben Tre Province has been confirmed as the 10th A/H1N1 flu fatality in Viet Nam.

The death was reported by the Ministry of Health (MoH) at the weekly meeting of the Steering Committee for A/H1N1 flu pandemic prevention yesterday.

“The patient died of respiration failure and serious pneumonia brought on by chronic diabetes and the A/H1N1 flu virus,” said the Director of the Preventive Medicine and Environment Department of MoH, Nguyen Huy Nga.

The victim had been admitted to An Binh Dong District Hospital on September 16 and Ben Tre Hospital one day later.

According to the director of HCM City Health Department, Nguyen Van Chau, A/H1N1 carriers who suffered from chronic diseases were more susceptible to death by the virus.

Director of the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology Nguyen Tran Hien said that 37 per cent of people with respiratory symptoms had been infected with the flu virus.

“Ninety per cent of flu patients are infected with the A/H1N1 flu virus. The rate reached 100 per cent at supervision sites at Nhi Dong 1 Hospital in HCM City, Khanh Hoa General Hospital in central Khanh Hoa Province and Thanh Xuan Bac District in Ha Noi,” said Hien.

“The pandemic has spread wide throughout the community,” Hien said.

A representative of the National Institute of Infectious and Tropical Diseases said that 40 per cent of people going to the institute for examinations were going for flu-related symptoms.

The institute was currently overloaded due to the A/H1N1 flu pandemic and the dengue fever outbreak.

MoH yesterday reported 194 new A/H1N1 flu cases, bringing the nation‘s total to 7,636 cases, including 10 fatalities, in more than 50 provinces and cities nationwide.

The United States will support Viet Nam’s efforts to combat avian and pandemic influenza with a three-year project, with funding for the first year beginning September 2009, valued at US$3.6 million, the US embassy in Ha Noi has announced.

The project will focus its work in five provinces—Can Tho, Ha Nam, Hung Yen, Kien Giang and Quang Tri—as the base for testing and applying risk reduction practices in local settings. Other provinces will be included as they become appropriate and feasible.

Special measures

Working at a local level in the fields of health, agriculture and rural development officials, activities will include public communication campaigns and training for animal and human health workers to help them and their communities monitor, prevent and control avian and pandemic influenza.

The project will also encourage additional villages to take special measures to reduce the risk and spread of disease, especially in provinces at high risk of avian influenza.

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has selected Abt Associates to carry out the project in close co-operation with the Vietnamese Government. With the experiences and lessons learned from programmes carried out over the last three years, this project will identify and spread the best practices and enhance surveillance techniques to control and prevent avian flu and other forms of influenza.

USAID activities in Viet Nam include joint cross-border pandemic preventing exercises with China and Laos, support to develop and improve provincial pandemic preparedness plans, training of animal health workers and veterinarians, public communication campaigns and journalist training in A/H1N1 prevention and control measures.

Pending the continued availability of funds, USAID planned to continue the activity for two additional years, bringing its total contribution to $10 million.

Since 2005, the US government has allocated $50 million to support Viet Nam’s prog-rammes to combat avian and pandemic influenza. —

Source: vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn

Ben Tre woman, 19, becomes sixth reported swine flu victim

HA NOI — Viet Nam reported its sixth swine flu fatality after another woman died in Cho Lach District, Ben Tre Province, on Saturday.

The 19-year-old woman tested positive for A/H1N1 after being hospitalised at the Cu Lao Minh Hospital on September 5 with flu-like symptoms, including fever and shortness of breath. She died after seven days in isolated care despite being treated with Tamiflu because of the seriousness of her condition.

Health authorities said that there was no source of infection for the fatality. She had just given birth three months before and was staying at home to nurse her baby.

Director of the health ministry’s Preventive Medicine and Environment Department Nguyen Huy Nga said yesterday that the ministry would ask HCM City’s Pasteur Institute to collect samples for re-testing, to further investigate the cause of death and the source of infection.

“As the pandemic has spread widely throughout the community, fatalities are unavoidable, especially in high-risk groups including children, the elderly and people with chronic diseases,” said Nga.

The Ben Tre provincial health department said that as of Friday, the province had reported a total of 69 A/H1N1 flu cases, of which 52 had been discharged from the hospital, 16 were in isolation and one had died.

Previously, Viet Nam had reported five fatalities by A/H1N1 flu nationwide including three in HCM City, one in Khanh Hoa Province and one in Dong Nai Province.

The Ministry of Health yesterday reported 220 new A/H1N1 cases, of which 150 were in the south, 35 in the north, 24 in the centre and 11 in the Central Highlands.

As of yesterday, the country had confirmed a total of 4,664 A/H1N1 flu cases and six fatalities, of which 3,350 had been discharged from hospitals and the remaining were either in isolation and treatment in stable condition or in medical units under community supervision. —

Source: vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn