Two tourists wear masks while resting at a shrine in Bangkok Monday.

The Vietnamese Ministry of Health reported four more Influenza A (H1N1) cases Monday, raising the country’s total to 299.

The new patients are now among 52 patients currently under quarantine and treatment for the disease. They are in stable condition without any serious complications, the ministry reported.

Of the total infections, 247 people have been discharged from hospitals after full recoveries. No H1N1 casualties have been reported in the country so far.

The latest statistics from the World Health Organization showed that 94,512 people have contracted the H1N1 virus across the globe, resulting in 429 deaths.

All countries will need access to vaccines against the flu as the pandemic would continue to spread, AFP quoted WHO director on vaccine research Marie-Paul Kieny as saying Monday.

A group of vaccination experts have concluded that “the H1N1 pandemic is unstoppable,” said Kieny.

She said an Influenza A vaccine should be available as early as September, adding that health workers should be first in line for vaccinations as they would be the ones required to keep health systems going while people continued to fall sick.

Countries should decide on their own national priorities, but other priority groups should include pregnant women and anyone over six months-old with chronic health problems, said the senior WTO official.

Children are another group that required immediate vaccination as they were “amplifiers” of the spread of the disease, particularly when they gather in schools, Kieny added.

Companies working on an H1N1 vaccine include Sanofi-Aventis, Novartis AG, Baxter International Inc, GlaxoSmithKline, Solvay and nasal spray maker MedImmune, now part of AstraZeneca.

Disturbing resemblance to 1918

The new H1N1 virus bears a disturbing resemblance to the virus strain that caused the 1918 flu pandemic, with a greater ability to infect the lungs than common seasonal flu viruses, according to research quoted by Reuters Monday.

The research was led by Yoshihiro Kawaoke from the University of Wisconsin.

Tests in several animals confirmed by several other studies have shown that the new H1N1 flu strain can spread beyond the upper respiratory tract to go deep into the lungs, making it more likely to cause pneumonia, the international team said.

In addition, they found that people who survived the 1918 pandemic seemed to have extra immune protection against the virus, again confirming the work of other researchers.

The new influenza has caused the first pandemic of the 21st century. The WHO says the flu is causing mostly moderate sickness but Kawaoka said that does not mean the disease is like the seasonal flu.

“There is a misunderstanding about this virus,” he said in a statement. “There is clear evidence the virus is different than seasonal influenza.”

Writing in the journal Nature, Kawaoka and colleagues noted that the ability to infect the lungs is a characteristic of other pandemic viruses, especially the 1918 virus, which is estimated to have killed between 40 million and 100 million people.

Other tests showed the virus could be controlled by the antiviral drugs Relenza, made by GlaxoSmithKline, and Tamiflu, made by Roche AG, the researchers said.

Reported by Lien Chau – Dieu Hien