Health Minister Nguyen Quoc Trieu (R) visits Hanoi’s first influenza A patient Thursday.

Seven new influenza A (H1N1) cases in Vietnam have brought the national tally to 25 as the World Health Organization (WHO) branded the international outbreak a global pandemic.

Five patients in Vietnam have recovered and have been discharged from the hospital since the first case was detected here on May 31.

One of the six new cases in HCMC – a 14-year-old Vietnamese resident – arrived at Tan Son Nhat International Airport last Friday.

The others include a 42-year-old father, his 42-year-old wife and 4- year-old son, and a 6-year-old girl who all traveled on the same UA869 flight. Another local boy of 7 years old had also had physical contact with some people on that flight.

Officials found 11 passengers at the airport with body temperatures above 38 degrees Celsius Thursday. They have been sent to the city’s Tropical Diseases Hospital and Children’s Hospitals No. 1 and No. 2, pending tests.

The city Health Department has so far spent more than VND1 billion (US$56,200) to quarantine and isolate influenza A patients for treatment.

Also Thursday, the ministry confirmed the first case of influenza A in Hanoi, after a second blood test on a 27-year-old Hanoi garment trader confirmed the flu virus.

He was admitted to the National Institute of Infectious and Tropical Diseases on Tuesday with a fever and a sore throat.

He had been in the US for 11 days before arriving at Noi Bai International Airport last Friday. He had transited in South Korea and sat next to a passenger with flu symptoms.

The man is recovering while eight people who have had physical contact with him since his arrival were asked to stay at home, or at least away from crowds, for seven days.

Their samples have been sent to the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology for testing.

The Central Highlands Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology also announced that five members of the V-League Hoang Anh Gia Lai football squad, who have been isolated for treatment in Gia Lai Province, only have normal flu.

One of them developed a fever after returning from a trip to Brazil on May 31 before the others were infected.

The National Institute of Infectious and Tropical Diseases has prepared 6,000 tamiflu tablets, face masks, sterilizers, 200 beds and other medical tools to treat any patient immediately, Minister of Health Nguyen Quoc Trieu said Thursday.

Four mobile treatment teams have also been set up at the institute.

Global pandemic

The Geneva-based UN body, the WHO decided to declare its first influenza pandemic in 40 years after an emergency meeting of scientific experts Thursday on the disease outbreak, AFP reported Thursday.

The latest flu pandemic was declared by the WHO when an outbreak of the H3N2 viral strain from 1968-69 killed nearly two million people.

The meeting came amid growing evidence the virus is now being widely transmitted between humans in Asia and Europe as well as the Americas, said the AFP report.

As of Thursday, 74 countries and territories had officially reported 27,737 cases of influenza A (H1N1), including 141 deaths, mostly in Mexico and the US where the virus was first discovered in April, according to the WHO.

After such an alert, many countries would have to think about changing their approach to the virus, the WHO said.

Countries such as Australia, Britain and Japan, which are reporting growing numbers of infections, should wind down certain activities as there would no longer be such an emphasis on gathering data about the spread of the virus.

The emphasis should shift from detection and containment to treatment, AFP reported citing WHO spokesman Dick Thompson as saying.

Mexico and the US need not change their approach but areas where the virus is yet to be detected should think about early containment of H1N1 through quarantining, he said.

As of Wednesday, Chile reported 1,283 more infections including one new death, Britain added 109 new infections, Australia 173 and Japan 75, cited the AFP report.

The Palestinian territories confirmed their first case in a 4-year-old boy who returned from the US five days ago.

Fears are currently greatest in the southern hemisphere, with the onset of its winter season, according to AFP.

Hong Kong authorities Thursday ordered all primary schools in the city to be closed for two weeks after 12 pupils at a city secondary school were found to have contracted the H1N1 virus.

Meanwhile in Germany, a school for Japanese youngsters in the western city of Dusseldorf was closed after 27 children tested positive for the virus.

Source: TN, Agencies