Chinese Schools Report More Swine Flu Cases

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Main Category: Swine Flu
Also Included In: Pediatrics / Children's Health;  Public Health
Article Date: 08 Sep 2009 - 2:00 PST

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In China, where schools started their autumn term a week ago, the authorities yesterday confirmed 15 more students have contracted the A/H1N1 swine flu virus.

According to state news agency Xinhua, all 15 patients, who are studying at the Shuikou Township Middle School in Qionglai City and Chengdu University of Technology in Chengdu, southwest Sichuan Province, are in a stable condition.

Last week, 43 students from Chengdu City were confirmed as having contracted the A/H1N1 virus: they were all studying at the city's Southwest Civil Aviation College.

Similar numbers of confirmed and suspected cases among students have also been reported this academic term from schools in other regions.

Chen Zhu, China's Minister of Health said earlier today, Tuesday, that the country is facing a "grim situation", reported Reuters.

He said recent developments like the surge in domestic cases, as opposed to the initial phase where it was mostly foreigners coming to China that were infected, and also the rising cluster size of outbreaks, were causes for concern.

At a meeting on Monday, the Chinese government promised to strengthen measures to prevent and control swine flu in the run up to the National Day celebrations on 1st October, a national holiday for celebrating the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949.

There are fears that the rate of infections in China will get worse through the autumn.

A statement released recently after a meeting of the State Council presided over by premier Wen Jiabao, said schools were the focus of the country's fight against swine flu and that classes should be suspended "properly" to avoid mass infection in the event of an outbreak.

The statement said:

"Currently the global epidemic situation is getting worse. As autumn comes, the number of domestic cases in China is also on the rise... The prevention and control work faces fresh obstacles."

The State Council also urged that railway and aviation departments improve their emergency plans for dealing with epidemic outbreaks in crowds.

They said medical personnel, equipment and materials should be ready to respond immediately in case of emergency and especially around National Day, when crowds are expected to be larger than usual.

Last week the Chinese government ordered 7.3 million doses of swine flu vaccine from domestic pharmaceutical companies Sinovac and Hualan. They are required to fill the order within 10 days, the companies told Xinhua news agency on Friday.

The vaccines will not be for general sale across China but will be reserved by the government, said the news agency.

According to government figures as of Monday 7th September, there have been 5,592 reported confirmed cases of infection by A/H1N1 swine flu on the Chinese mainland, of which 3,853 had recovered, and no deaths have been reported, although a patient in Shanghai is in a coma, with multiple organ failure, reported Reuters news agency.

Source: Xinhua, Reuters.

Written by: Catharine Paddock, PhD
Copyright: Medical News Today
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