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H1N1 swine Flu has landed!
Posted by Riceman (206 days ago)
A case of the H1N1 virus was confirmed by the Government this evening at 8pm (a 25yr old tourist from Mexico who stayed at the Metropark, Wanchai).
It was only a matter of time before it arrived here but it's still a worry...
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Posted by Ed (205 days ago)
Hong Kong seals off hotel where H1N1 flu found
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong confirmed Asia's first case of the new H1N1 flu virus in a Mexican traveler on Friday, prompting authorities to seal off the hotel where the 25-year old man had been staying.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang told reporters the man arrived on a China Eastern flight on Thursday afternoon after a stopover in Shanghai.
He had a fever and went to Ruttonjee Hospital for help on Thursday evening, Tsang said. The Mexican is now in hospital in a stable condition.
The confirmation of the H1N1 infection was made by a laboratory at the University of Hong Kong.
"He didn't leave the hotel (except to go to hospital) because he was feeling sick," Health Minister York Chow told a news conference.
Two companions of the Mexican and a friend he met in Hong Kong were now in isolation wards at another hospital, he said.
Tsang said he had accepted the recommendation of government health experts to seal off the Metropark hotel in Wanchai district where the Mexican was staying.
Dozens of police wearing surgical masks stood guard both inside and outside the hotel late on Friday. Hotel guests were prevented from leaving while outsiders could not get in.
"I assure you the Hong Kong government will try its best to conquer the virus," Tsang said. "At the present moment, I would prefer to do it more stringently instead of missing the opportunity to control the spread of the virus."
Chow said the hotel had about 200 guests and over 100 staff and they would be quarantined for seven days. He urged those who were not in the hotel as well as taxi drivers who took the Mexican to the hotel and to hospital to report to authorities.
The drastic action left some visitors distressed.
Cinmei Sinaga from Indonesia was left standing for hours on the pavement with her eight-month-old daughter.
"I don't feel that they are doing anything to help me. I just need my passport but we cannot go to another hotel and my baby needs to sleep. I feel scared," she told Reuters.
The affluent financial hub on the south coast of China is widely seen as one of the best-prepared Asian cities to deal with the new H1N1 flu virus, given its experience in handling sporadic outbreaks of H5N1 avian flu, as well as SARS in 2003 which killed 299 people.
The order to seal off the Metropark hotel brought back memories of how SARS started in Hong Kong in February 2003. A doctor from mainland China who knew he had been infected with SARS had traveled to Hong Kong to try to seek medical help.
But before he could get admitted to hospital, he infected eight people in a lift lobby of the Metropole hotel where he was staying. Some of them then went on to spread the disease in Hong Kong, Singapore, Canada and Vietnam.
To tackle the H1N1 flu virus, Hong Kong authorities have beefed up surveillance at airports and hospitals, improved public health response systems and stockpiled over 20 million doses of the anti-influenza drug Tamiflu.
Photos and Full Story http://uk.reuters.com/article/burningIssues/idUKTRE54054T20090501?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0
Posted by homely (205 days ago)
funbobby got the right site. The hotel is in Wanchai.
Posted by mamadavid (205 days ago)
Have looked on HK government public health website to see if they plan to close schools. No announcement so far, but has anyone heard any news about this?
Posted by Todge (205 days ago)
Mamadavid:
According to SCMP ...
... Despite stressing that the government needed to adopt stringent measures to control spread of the virus, Mr Tsang said schools would remain open and public gatherings and exhibitions would continue as normal, but under strengthened hygiene conditions. "Under the present circumstances, I would rather act rigorously than miss the chance of containing the spread of the virus in Hong Kong," he said. ...
Posted by hshirley (205 days ago)
Well done Ed at least your on top of the Swine this time, shame about Mrs M Chan from the Band of Who are you?
Posted by Huggy (205 days ago)
We coped with bird flu and SARS - I have no doubt we will cope with swine flu.
Why was the mexican the one in the paper mask and the ambulance worker was dressed up as if he had ebola? surely the one who should have had the 'good' mask was the mexican.
I find this flu scare a bit over the top at the moment - I'm more perplexed that it has been so deadly in Mexico and nowhere else (apart from the Mexican baby who was taken to the US). Lots of mask wearers in TST today by mainly Mainland tourist groups. What is it like in your area?
Posted by funbobby (205 days ago)
not really...as he was already sick, no need for him to don the biohazard suit...if you're not aware (as I think is the case with MOST people I see walking around healthy with masks on) the mask SHOULD BE worn by sick people to contain their own excretions, NOT as a preventative measure by healthy people...there are many ways for a virus to enter your body (eyes, hand to mouth, etc.) so it's a bit silly for all of these people to rush out and empty the shelves of masks when they hear 'FLU!!!!"
Posted by Huggy (204 days ago)
>funbobby - the Mexican is the person who SHOULD have had the good mask as HE was the sick one. If you read my post again you will see that you are actually agreeing with me.
In Mong Kok today many people wearing masks - again mainly 'tourist' groups. But they may as well have not been - masks over mouth but not nose. People eating bread rolls with their masks tucked under their chin and one bright spark had ripped a hole in the middle of his to eat his pineapple bun. :-)
Posted by funbobby (204 days ago)
no...the mask he was wearing (likely n95) is sufficient to contain whatever he would likely cough up...i read your post as 'why didn't he have the "Ebola" mask on'...and the answer is, he doesn't need protection from the virus as he already contracted it...
Posted by Huggy (203 days ago)
thanks funbobby :-)... but if he coughs through the paper mask - he will still be able to spread it. The paper masks are pretty useless on something like viruses as they are so tiny - and once the mask gets moist/wet (if he was coughing a lot) it would be virtually useless. The ideal scenario would have been both of them wearing the decent masks.
I see that Mexico is reporting that the virus has now gone into the 'declining' phase.
Fingers crossed for them.
Posted by micks (203 days ago)
I think this virus maybe more deadly than sars!
Posted by axptguy38 (203 days ago)
The outbreak seems more mild than what the media was hyping up. It is worth remembering, though, that the Spanish Flu disappeared during the summer months of 1918, only to come back much stronger in the autumn. It's not over yet...
Posted by FKKC (203 days ago)
Heard from the news last night (not confirm yet) that this H1N1 was originated from US, not Mexico. Does anyone know anything about this?
Posted by funbobby (203 days ago)
Heard that too, Al Jazeerah this morn...two cases in Cali. that were contracted BEFORE the outbreak in Mexico...the plot thickens...also now a herd of pigs in Canada that caught it FROM a man returning from Mexico...
Posted by FKKC (203 days ago)
Aha, the BULLY - just like in schools. The weak taking the blame......
Posted by Huggy (203 days ago)
>axpatguy38
"The outbreak seems more mild than what the media was hyping up. It is worth remembering, though, that the Spanish Flu disappeared during the summer months of 1918, only to come back much stronger in the autumn. It's not over yet..."
Agree with you on the above. The media really went to town on this one as it makes essential viewing and sells newspapers. I think being aware, yet not alarmed is the route to go down.
>funbobby - I haven't seen the tv this morning, but thanks for the interesting snippet - especially as it was contracted before the outbreak in Mexico. Have they got the evidence to prove this yet? Re the pigs contracting it from a man returning from Mexico.... the mind boggles.
>micks - your post "I think this virus maybe more deadly than sars!"
I remember when SARS hit Hong Kong there was a news presenter on the late news who interrupted the news with this...
"We are bringing you breaking news - We have just heard that the SARS virus is more deadly than Ebola!" I swear I could have slapped him-HARD.
That outburst was sensational news reporting at its worst and did nothing at all at the time to allay the fears that SARS could be contained at any time soon. Then we had Betty in her SARS suit...lol.
I think that we should be aware, and keep hygiene at the forefront of our minds but until ('IF' and "WHEN?") this flu mutates into something more serious - I really don't see what the panic is all about.
My biggest fear is that with all the scaremongering out there - IF it does come back in the autumn - people will be more complacent because of all the hype now.
As a positive for Hong Kong - Mong Kok was looking fresh and clean all around the backstreets yesterday and perhaps people will use a tissue to cough into instead of spraying all and sundry as has been happening of late, HK had become a bit too lax and this was a wake-up call for everyone.
And what does anyone think about the 50 missing guests from the Metropark hotel? Saints or sinners?
Posted by funbobby (203 days ago)
more hotel quarantines now, from China Daily, in Shanghai, Guangzhou, and other mainland cities, of passengers on the "Typhoid Manuel' flight from Mexico to Shanghai/Hong Kong
Posted by pharmacy (203 days ago)
whats people views on face mask, everyone seems to be wearing them in hk and yet in uk where there are more cases noone seems to be using them
Posted by axptguy38 (203 days ago)
Face masks (the disposable kind) are only really useful if you don't want to spread an infection that you already have. If you are not sick they are pretty useless at stopping infection if just used "as clothing". Of course, if you are a nurse in a ward it will be useful. But in that case you are following all kinds of other decontamination procedures as well.
The virus is airborne. If someone sneezes fifty meters away a tiny droplet can travel on the wind and into your eye. The mask will not obviously not help in this case. Perhaps we should all wear protective eyewear...
Disposable masks do have the psychological benefit of reminding us to keep our distance socially and (hopefully) to remind us to wash hands frequently and such.
The masks that would really help are respirators. But I don't see people wearing those.
Posted by janedover (203 days ago)
The N95s will certainly stop any virus from getting in or out but its so suffocating that you have to be so determined or so scared to wear them. The normal triple layer masks would stop most virus from getting out but not so good in stopping them coming in, so to be totally effective all the sick people have to wear them, and change them regularly.
The UK has not had the experience of a SARS like HK, hence the more relaxing attitude, I suppose...
Posted by axptguy38 (203 days ago)
To be sure, SARS has a big influence here.
Then again there are several flu variants doing the rounds every year and yet few people get flu shots. The "normal" flus can kill you just as well as this new one, as evidenced by multiple deaths, for example last year.
Posted by cd (202 days ago)
Agree, most people forget that 'flu' can be a killer, thousands of people worldwide die every year from the flu, I expect no more will die this year from flu than any other year, its just that this particular strain has a name.
Posted by Huggy (202 days ago)
Agree, axptguy38.
I think the vast majority of the public in Hong Kong have been very sensible re this new strain of flu. There has been much less panic than in the past.
Personally, I am grateful for the cleaner public toilets and streets which have had a marked difference over the past two weeks. Always a silver lining.
Posted by homegirl (202 days ago)
What makes me sick (get it!) is the people whinging on the radio that HK Government has gone too far shutting the hotel, blah, blah, blah.
People have a short memory here and forget how deadly SARS was and i commend the HK Government (for once) for stepping up and quickly too.
Just waiting to hear now how many of those in the hotel start asking for compensation, especiall the Korean who says he's missed out on a multi million contract, yeah right!
Posted by axptguy38 (202 days ago)
Sure, they "stepped up" with the hotels and such. But why don't they then propagate for inoculation versus the "classic" flu strains? That would save more lives yearly than this stuff...
Posted by dalba (200 days ago)
the world has lost common sense.
two figures:
How many deaths in the usa linked to "the swine flu" so far?
answer: 2
How many deaths in the usa (alone) linked to conventional seasonal flu?
answer: 30000 to 50000 (estimation made by the WHO.
WHO WANTS TO BE AFRAID?? MAYBE IT IS ABOUT TIME WE START TO THINK RATHER THAN TO ACT LIKE COWARDS AND IRRESPONSIBLE PEOPLE... WHAT A NONSENSE...
(During a typical year in the United States, 30,000 to 50,000 persons die as a result of influenza viral infection. Frequently cited numbers are 20,000 deaths each year, and 37,000 annual deaths. About 5-10% of hospitalizations for influenza lead to fatal outcome in adults...)
Posted by housed (200 days ago)
"got this link from another forum...shows how ludicrous the Metropark quarantine really is.
http://www.zonaeuropa.com/weblog.htm"
Interesting read but not sure if this article is really accurate? It asserts that the Mexican (index patient) had gone to the HKCEC Gifts & Premiums Fair in the morning before going to the hospital in the evening. But from what I've read in the papers (and on govt sites), he supposedly never left the hotel after checking in as he felt ill. Which is correct?
Posted by cinderella.57 (200 days ago)
dalba,
You should think before criticizing as you are the one who is talking nonsense.
All flu can kill but doctors know what vaccine or medicine to administer to patients for ordinary existing flu whereas the recent H1N1 has no known vaccine yet therefore all countries had to act cautiously to prevent an outbreak. What's wrong with that?
Posted by funbobby (200 days ago)
"Interesting read but not sure if this article is really accurate? It asserts that the Mexican (index patient) had gone to the HKCEC Gifts & Premiums Fair in the morning before going to the hospital in the evening. But from what I've read in the papers (and on govt sites), he supposedly never left the hotel after checking in as he felt ill. Which is correct?"
then let's discount the trip to the trade show....which sounds like bs in fact since he arrived in the afternoon and went to the hospital in the evening...think about all the other contacts he would have had, face to face or at least closer than MOST of the people in the hotel, before being quarantined (immigration, hosp. waiting room, baggage claim,
Posted by cd (199 days ago)
Agree with dalba,And cinderella, there are so many different types of flu, that the doctors don't know how to treat most of them.
Posted by Miss Japan (194 days ago)
2nd case of swine flu in HK - just been reported in the Standard as below:
Swine flu fears rise as second case confirmed
(1 hr 10 mins ago)
Officials have confirmed the second case of human swine flu in the city, and said the patient is a local man who just returned from the United States.
The 24-year-old patient was being held in isolation at Princess Margaret Hospital, Centre for Health Protection controller Thomas Tsang Ho-fai said.
A further six people who sat near the man on his flight from San Francisco are also being held in quarantine, along with the man's family members who met him at the airport on Monday evening.
A further 45 people who sat near him on his journey have already left Hong Kong.
The positive test comes almost two weeks after the first confirmed case, a Mexican visitor, arrived in the city.
The 25-year-old Mexican was held in quarantine for seven days, and around 350 guests and staff at the hotel where he briefly stayed were also detained.
The latest case was discovered after the man approached health officials at the airport after arriving on a Cathay Pacific flight on Monday evening.
''He consulted a clinic at the airport and was taken to hospital. This patient did not enter the city,'' said Tsang.
The man was in a stable condition.
A second Hong Kong man who had come into contact with the infected patient during his trip to the United States and since flown into the city has tested negative.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
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