Japan's tally of new-flu infections reaches 293

Friday 22nd May, 12:29 AM JST

TOKYO —

The tally of new-influenza infections in Japan continues to rise, reaching 293 early Friday with Kyoto becoming the sixth Japanese prefecture with a patient, while Tokyo reported its second infection case.

In Kyoto Prefecture, a 10-year-old boy in Kyoto City was confirmed to be infected with the new H1N1 strain of influenza A, which could possibly deal a blow to the city’s renowned tourism industry.

In Tokyo, a woman in her 30s in Meguro Ward was found to have the new flu after returning from San Francisco on Tuesday.

An adult man of South Korean nationality who had arrived in Narita airport from the United States was confirmed early Friday morning as being infected with the new flu, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.

Several more cases of infection were also reported in Osaka and Hyogo prefectures mostly among high school students but also including a 7-year-old girl.

A day after two 16-year-old girls in Tokyo and its vicinity became the first cases outside of western Japan, the central government and local authorities continued efforts to prevent the spread of the highly contagious disease.

The new H1N1 strain of influenza A ‘‘has become substantially widespread inside the country,’’ Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Yoichi Masuzoe told parliament, although the government maintains the country is still in the early stage of a domestic outbreak.

‘‘We intend to navigate our way in line with the ever-changing situation, striking a balance between the need for anti-epidemic measures and avoiding strains on people’s lives,’’ Masuzoe said at a House of Councillors Budget Committee session.

Meanwhile, the health ministry has started considering dividing the country into three areas, depending on the level of spread, to adopt different measures to cope with the disease, in a departure from the current unified measures applied throughout the nation, government sources said.

The new plan will likely designate Hyogo and Osaka as ‘‘an area with widespread infections,’’ Tokyo, Kanagawa and Shiga prefectures as ‘‘an area with limited infections,’’ and the rest of the nation as ‘‘an area without an infection.’‘

It is expected to be formalized Friday at a central government meeting that will also consider altering the government’s epidemic control measures from ones aimed chiefly at preventing the new flu from entering Japan from abroad to those for dealing with a spread within the country, the sources said.

‘‘We need to have a recognition that we will shift to domestic measures from measures to prevent the entry of the new flu,’’ Prime Minister Taro Aso told reporters in the evening.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura told a news conference that a spread of the infection in the Tokyo metropolitan area can be contained, because the two girls appear to have contracted the disease in the United States and not from patients within Japan.

Health officials, meanwhile, confirmed the whereabouts of 17 people who were in close contact with the girls during their flight back from New York, which arrived at Narita international airport on Tuesday afternoon, and concluded that none of the 17, including three Americans, was infected with the flu.

The girls, who attend Senzoku Gakuen High School in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, visited New York together to take part in a United Nations-related event.

Other students and teachers who attended the same event in New York—a model U.N. conference—as the infected girls have already been told to stay home from school since returning to Japan, school and other officials said.

Ten students from five schools in Tokyo and its vicinity were among the roughly 2,200 people from 18 countries taking part in the event held May 14-16 at the U.N. headquarters, according to the organizer, the United Nations Association of the United States of America.

None of the Japanese participants, including the four Senzoku Gakuen girls and their teacher, nor their family members has developed fever or other flu-like symptoms, according to the school officials.

No infection has been reported by any other participant in the model conference, the U.S. association said in New York on Wednesday local time.

The infected girls, from Hachioji in the suburbs of Tokyo and Kawasaki, appeared to be recovering Thursday morning in hospitals with their temperatures falling below 37 C, according to Senzoku Gakuen.

Since returning to Japan, the girls have had close contact only with their family members and the chances they have spread the virus in the Tokyo metropolitan area are low, the Tokyo and Kawasaki governments said.

The privately run Senzoku Gakuen decided early Thursday to close all its institutions on the same premises, ranging from a kindergarten to a graduate school, for seven days from Thursday.

However, the Kawasaki city office decided in a meeting Thursday afternoon not to suspend public schools or cancel large gatherings for now.

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Latest 15 of 31 Total Comments Show All

jeffrey at 12:04 AM JST - 22nd May

Badsey at 10:32 PM JST - 21st May Translation of above: There is no reason for young people to be dieing when immunity to this virus exists. People with immunity need to be tested and these younger people(that are desperately sick) need their immunity experience (blood).

Thanks! That sure clears up everything.
Farmboy at 06:19 AM JST - 22nd May

I really don't get all the negativity about what the Japanese are doing or not doing. There is enough Tamiflu, they have places set up to deal with at least some sick people, and they close places for a few days when the virus has been detected. The necessity of some of the latter measures is debatable, but they're not doing such a bad job, in my opinion. They are better prepared than many countries. I personally don't want flu of any kind, but nobody has resistance to this one, so it will spread, and there will be a lot of sick people. Thankfully, this version seems to be mild, as least for now.
Sebaschan at 08:29 AM JST - 22nd May

hontou ni abunai ;)

But it's no wonder that there is such a big histeric reaction. Just yesterday I watched a television program that showed 3 cases of getting leathal infections from raw fish. I wonder if those who watched it will ever eat fish again...

I also read the news from Germany the last few days... but it's not even mentioned anymore... they stick to the more important issues like the finance crysis and let the flu be a flu :)
tkoind2 at 08:36 AM JST - 22nd May

Monoflow. The same people who condemn the media for raising the alarm would damn the media for failing to do so. You can't have it both ways. The media is doing the right thing by keeping people informed.

What is far more dangerous are the dismissive people who fail to see the potential dangers raised by the flu or the larger picture issues of how this may reflect upon the nation's ability to react in a more serious outbreak.

I consider this a reherasal for what may be a far deadlier fall outbreak. At at worst case a test to try the ability of the country to respond to this type of crisis.

If for no reason more than the protection of the weaker and more at risk members of our society, caution is warranted and welcome.
roomtemperature at 09:17 AM JST - 22nd May

tkoind2, I totally agree with you. All those posters who keep repeating "it's nothing more than a normal flu" or "hysteria" or keep saying that masks are useless ( for the sake of bashing of course ) really don't know what they're talking about and ( not only in this discussion, EUgirl ) trying to profile themselves as so-called "experts". At this moment temperatures are rising and that's what a flu virus doesn't like. Probably we'll see a decline in the number of cases in the months ahead. Let's see what happens after summer, when temperatures will go down. Big chance this flu ( maybe already mutated into a more dangerous one ) will bounce back big time. For sure all those "experts" will then blaim Japan for not taken enough precautions.
Den Den at 11:05 AM JST - 22nd May

Kobe, Osaka, Shiga and they closed the schools in Kyoto this morning. Pathetic. If this cold thing is such a worry, why send the population out on to the streets to spread or catch it?
Himajin at 11:17 AM JST - 22nd May

Well, how fast did it spread in countries that were not scanning at airports, and where they do not wear masks?
tkoind2 at 11:21 AM JST - 22nd May

Den Den. Pathetic would be failing to worry about a threat to public health and safety. You should be happy that for once the government here is behaving in a very prudent manner. Better safe than sorry. And if safe can save a few lives who would be endangered by the flu, then that is work the inconvenience don't you think?

What if it was your ailing parent or sick friend who was at risk? Would you encourage closures to stem the spread then if it could protect him or her?
Den Den at 11:45 AM JST - 22nd May

Who has died from the flu in Japan? Last years influenza killed over 1000. This over-reaction is devastating the economy at a time when Japanese need to get out there and spend. If it is so serious as you claim, stop all public transport and have a curfew. This panic reaction is just to make Japanese believe in the marvel of Aso, so he will be re-elected.
PepinGalarga at 12:50 PM JST - 22nd May

in Japan, when people get sick they wont take sick days. medicine in general in Japan is a few decades back of other developed countries, and hygiene in hospitals is the worst i have seen. Fully automatic toilets in public places, and close proximity to other people will also help spread.
smithinjapan at 01:00 PM JST - 22nd May

tkoind2: "You should be happy that for once the government here is behaving in a very prudent manner. Better safe than sorry. And if safe can save a few lives who would be endangered by the flu, then that is work the inconvenience don't you think?"

I agree with you, save that the government is simply 'washing its hands' of responsibility, not necessarily acting to avoid spread of the disease. Prime example is them closing schools but not enforcing or even trying to enforce any measures to keep kids from assembling in public areas. So now you have 16 kids in a karaoke booth for 6 people, all sharing mics and snacks, and saliva in their drinks.

In Mexico infection rate is down due to more strictly enforced quarantine measures (I believe military patrols along with police).

Now, I'm not suggesting that Japan has the capacity to do this, and as usual the 'PTA patrols' that they expect to do all police work are failing miserably, but don't say the government is acting prudently when they are just covering their tracks in terms of liability. Hell, even then it's only half-a$$ed and bureaucratic; they close junior high and highschools and keep open the elementary schools because it's troublesome for parents to take care of them.

Better something than nothing, I suppose, but they should stop closing this school and leaving that school open, keep open this shop but close this juku, and go whole hog closing off everything. Or, keep life going as always and focus more on treatment.
Sebaschan at 01:47 PM JST - 22nd May

well if its a test for a more serious outbreak than we are doomed. They still havent switched on scanning domestic flights... if it takes them so long to make such an decision there is no hope.

I'm not saying caution is unnecessary, but when I hear from someone who came here recently, that someone who was slightly i'll in the plane of an inbound flight (no certain infection with the new flu), was literally put in carantine (wearing mask and paper clothes, and leaving 10 rows free with 2 guards at both ends), I say that this is a histeric reaction.
jeffrey at 01:59 PM JST - 22nd May

Himajin at 11:17 AM JST - 22nd May Well, how fast did it spread in countries that were not scanning at airports, and where they do not wear masks?

No masks here in the U.S. and we've pretty much stopped talking about it.

Americans vacation in Mexico by the thousands every month year around, and we share over one-thousand miles of border. If any country were to have experienced a significant secondary outbreak, it would have been here. However, it's pretty much run its course. And rather than insisting that it will hit harder next year, it's just as likely that significant numbers of people have already been exposed to the virus and were not affected by it. They will then have some if not complete immunity to it next flu season.

That Japan is just now seeing more cases reflects the relative lack of contact with the geographical region of the initial outbreak.

Again, this has not been a pandemic as relatively few people have been affected. More people die of the "normal" flu every year in just the U.S. than have died worldwide due to this "deadly" new strain.
tkoind2 at 02:18 PM JST - 22nd May

Den Den. Not even a pandemic can make people love Aso. No matter what he does.

Look... a lot better informed people than you or I consider this flu to be a real threat. Sure it has not killed anyone here yet. But it most certainly has the potential to do so.

Let me ask you this, how many lives are you willing to risk? If you can reduce the risk of spreading this flu, why not do that? The economic impact is unavoidable in any case. An early Summer outbreak of a severe flu will have impact whether you prepare for it or not. But it is certainly arguable that if you reduce the spread, you equally reduce the economic impact. And that makes good sense. It is also how companies are viewing it. Be safe today and keep more of your work force on site and productive because you avoid a wider spread of infection. Good common sense.

Now as for this not being important. There is grave concern that this flu will mutate and return in the fall as a true killer. The chance of mutation increases with the number of victims of this current strain. More people with flu = more opportunity to mutate. Plain and simple. So anything we can do to prevent more cases will work in our favor towards reducing the risk of a terrible fall strain.

Lastly. You need to remember that not everyone is strong and healthy. Japan has a lot of elderly, people with compromised immune systems, young children and tired overworked salarypeople who will be far more vulnerable to a flu than maybe you are. A lot of these people WILL die if this flu spreads. Even if it is no worst than normal flu there will be a lot of people who lose their lives.

If some of that loss of live can be prevented by the precautions in place now and by stronger efforts, why not do that? It is the right thing to do. And if you were someone out there with a compromised immune system, you would be hoping for that protection. Society is made up of the many, and they must be considered too. Your position clearly does not consider the welfare of these people.
plainwordsmedia at 03:59 PM JST - 22nd May

I lived in Hong Kong before and after the SARS outbreak (in Thailand during SARS, which was lucky). In HK shops, offices, apartments regularly swab public potentially germ-bearing surfaces such as lift controls with disinfectant every one or two hours. This was being done routinely before the A(H1N1) outbreak as a precaution. I have not seen this done in Japan even today.

On the use of masks, my cousin is a dental professor who says that the common masks used in Japan help to prevent TRANSMISSION of flu and other germs from the wearer, but have limited usefulness in stopping germs attacking the wearer - and the kind of masks that would prevent germs are hot and uncomfortable to wear. (NHK I noticed claimed that the girls in Tokyo who picked up the virus in the US had worn masks the whole time except while eating.) Incidentally, my cousin had a message from a clinical colleague at one of Japan's hospitals in the A(H1N1) affected areas saying that they had been told to wash their hands efficiently because the hospital was running out of sanitising washing liquid.