SG Complains

Be Prepared For Sudden Outbreak of H1N1

This is a silent warning for Singapore from me, I don’t want to generate a panic but this is my way to contribute to Singapore or at least to people who happen to read this post.

There are rumors or videos of rumors that the numbers of rate of confirmation of 2009 H1N1 Swine Flu virus are slow due to the overwhelming delays on testing suspected flu samples by the authorities such as CDC and other health organization all over the world.

More than 8,800 swine flu cases have been confirmed in 40 countries since the virus first emerged in Mexico and the United States a month ago and the swine flu has also killed six people in the United States, while Costa Rica and Canada have each reported one death due to the flu.

This means on average of 293 people got infected per day if we calculate by 8,800 divided by 30 days however the rate of infection is known to be slow in the beginning to start with hence I can assume that the SPEED of infection had ACCELERATED instead of slowing down and most of the infection had gone undetected due to the fact that most airport checks are mostly on temperature reading only.

Then 2nd wave of infection may come when more medical professional are tasked to test more samples of suspected Swine Flu cases and able to confirm more cases in the next few days and we might see a more “clearer” picture to emerge.

The fever is just one of the later symptoms of Swine Flu hence may not surface immediately upon infection but became highly infectious in the normal “Flu” stage where the infected develop flu like symptoms first and start spreading by sneezing and touching public objects such as railings, lift buttons and etc with their hands that contains the mucus that contains the virus.

The virus can potentially survive on hard surface up to 72 hours hence anyone who touches them with their hands and use the same hands to rub their eyes, dig their noses or touched their mouth have high chance of infection.

Other ways of infection comes from near proximity from a sneeze by an infectious person.

The global health experts are worrying on the current flu pattern of infection and expressed concern about who the new swine flu virus is infecting – mostly children, teens and young adults – and outbreaks in schools.

Ministers and experts began a meeting in Geneva to discuss how to fight the virus with vaccines and drugs, as well as what would trigger the WHO to declare a full pandemic.

“For the first time in humanity, we are seeing, or we may be seeing, pandemic influenza evolving in front of our eyes,” WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan told her U.N. agency’s World Health Assembly.

OBE, Japan (AFP) - Japan reported 178 swine flu infections Tuesday and closed more than 4,000 schools, colleges and kindergartens for the rest of the week to slow the spread of the virus, officials said.

Experts warned that infections had probably already spread to other regions including the capital Tokyo, which with almost 36 million people is the world’s most populous urban area and the heart of the Japanese economy.

Japan’s first domestic cases of the (A)H1N1 virus were confirmed Saturday in the western cities of Kobe and Osaka, where they spread quickly in and between two high schools that had met for a volleyball tournament.

A total of 4,043 kindergartens, schools, colleges and universities were closed for at least this week in the two prefectures at the request of the government, up from some 2,000 Monday, an education ministry official said.

Neighbouring Kyoto prefectures closed eight schools voluntarily.

Latest updates just comes in……….Hong Kong was just placed on a new flu alert after a mainland Chinese man was detained at the customs checkpoint in Guangzhou after developing a fever while on board the train and diagnosed with the A(H1N1) virus following a preliminary test, China’s health ministry said.

The man stayed two nights at a hotel in the city’s Mong Kok district before boarding a train to Guangzhou Friday.

This means that similar Swine Flu outbreak in JAPAN and Hong Kong may happen ANYWHERE in the world where the population density are high, the movement of this virus may be just an airplane away from Singapore or one bus load from Malaysia where 86 possible flu carriers still missing either still in Malaysia or “went abroad”.

Therefore I had to ASSUME that the swine flu virus maybe already HERE and we have to take precaution measure as much as possible especially for those suffering from Asthma and other chronic illnesses that may potentially die from such an infection (Such as me).