Masuzoe says flu epidemic has started / Care urged to stop spread of H1N1 strain

The Yomiuri Shimbun - Japan

The new strain of influenza has already reached epidemic proportions in Japan, Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Yoichi Masuzoe said Wednesday.

Masuzoe made the remark during a hastily arranged press conference, held in response to the continuing spread in new cases of infection with the H1N1 strain of influenza and the rising death toll.

Experts fear that the flu epidemic will become more widespread from this autumn, and Masuzoe called for the thorough implementation of the preventive measures already in place.

According to statistics compiled from Aug. 3 to 9 by the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, the number of flu patients reported by about 5,000 medical institutions nationwide stood at an average of 0.99 patient per facility, just shy of the 1.00 benchmark that is deemed to be the start of a flu epidemic.

Most of the patients are believed to be infected with the new H1N1 strain of influenza A. It also is highly likely that the number of patients infected with the new flu will surge after the end of schools' summer recess.

<SNIP>http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20090820TDY01303.htm

That said, I think that a lot more people in the US had it last spring that is acknowledged. Many were never tested and just assumed that they had a bad case of seasonal flu.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20090820a1.html
Pandemic back with vengeance
Kyodo News
The H1N1 swine flu pandemic claimed its third victim Wednesday as Nagoya health authorities confirmed that an 81-year-old woman from the city died early in the morning.

Separately, at least five children hit by the new influenza, in Okinawa and Kumamoto prefectures and Kawasaki, were in serious condition and four were on artificial respirators as of Wednesday evening, local governments said.

The latest death prompted health minister Yoichi Masuzoe to warn that the H1N1 flu pandemic, or "shingata infuruenza" (new-type influenza), may be back with a vengeance.

Masuzoe said further attempts would be made to protect those most vulnerable to the flu — young people, pregnant women and those with chronic illnesses — by disseminating information on the highly infectious disease, which shut down several schools in the Kansai region after rapidly infecting hundreds of people, mostly high-school students, in late spring.

The three children in Okinawa include two girls, aged 11 and 13, and a 1-year-old boy. All were hospitalized after developing serious fevers and flu symptoms. The Kawasaki patient is a 6-year-old boy, and the one in Amakusa, Kumamoto Prefecture, is an elementary school girl who had an asthma attack.

The Nagoya woman marks the third domestic fatality linked to the new flu in five days. First a 57-year-old Okinawa man died Saturday, then a 77-year-old Kobe man succumbed Tuesday.

Nagoya officials said the woman had other underlining illnesses — multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer, and a weak heart. She died of acute pneumonia.

The Nagoya woman, who had never been abroad, was moved to an isolation ward Saturday after developing a 39.5-degree fever and severe coughing after hospitalization Thursday. She was belatedly diagnosed with H1N1 Tuesday.

Doctors said they thought she had pneumonia.

Three days of coughing, sleeping, and fever of 98-102.9 (my normal is 97.8).