Bakery employees wear surgical masks in Quilmes, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina on Thursday

The Ministry of Health yesterday confirmed seven more cases of influenza A, also known as the H1N1 virus, with five in the south and two others in the north.

The Ho Chi Minh City Health Department said yesterday that five others tested positive for the virus during initial tests, but the confirmatory second round of tests have yet to be fully analyzed.

The department said 27 people were admitted to hospitals for testing with flu-like symptoms after arriving at the city’s Tan Son Nhat International Airport.

Fourteen of them were sent to the new 30-bed quarantine area at District 7 Hospital, Dr. Phan Van Nghiem from the department said.

Cao Trong Nguong, head of Dong Nai Province’s Preventive Health Department said the province has so far had 12 cases of H1N1 flu. Six of them had contracted the virus from contacts with an infected overseas student who returned to Vietnam on June 26.

Nguong said the disease is spreading fast in the province and that the number of cases had doubled over the last five days.

Health agencies in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong were meanwhile monitoring 25 people who had contact with the influenza A patients, head of the provincial Preventive Health Department Dang Van Huyen said.

In related news, the Hanoi People’s Committee has issued its Influenza A Prevention Plan, with aims to quarantine and cure 100 percent of all patients.

The committee asked concerned agencies to strengthen quarantine and treatment facilities to be ready to cope with any new situation.

As the university entrance exams continue today, the health ministry has cooperated with the Ministry of Education and Training to strengthen preventative measures and prepare for quarantines and treatment in case any students get sick.

Worldwide, the virus has infected at least 89,921 people in 125 countries and territories, causing 382 deaths, according to the latest figures released by the World Health Organization.

Call for global access to flu vaccine

The World Health Organization (WHO) and developing nations called Friday during a swine flu summit in Mexico for measures to ensure poorer countries have access to a future influenza A (H1N1) vaccine, AFP reported.

Laboratories with the capacity to produce a vaccine for influenza A (H1N1), which has developed into the first pandemic of the 21st century, are mostly located in Europe.

This has “obvious implications for the developing world,” according to Jon Kim Andrus, an expert from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).

“The producers of the vaccine have already committed 90 percent to high income countries, where some 893 million people live, and 10 percent to countries like China and Russia, which have some capacity to produce some of the vaccines,” Andrus said during a closed-door summit session, according to an assistant who spoke to AFP.

“If they began marketing the vaccine right now, developing countries would not get any,” Andrus said.

A two-pronged strategy is being developed to prevent that scenario, with the WHO and PAHO negotiating with vaccine producers to secure donations or sales at lower prices for developing countries and richer nations being asked to donate some of their vaccine stocks.

Margaret Chan, director general of WHO, said thanks to an agreement “with two companies, 250 million doses” will be sent to developing countries, but she also acknowledged that the amount “is obviously not enough.”

During closed-door sessions in Cancun, Chan made a strong call for rich countries to avoid hoarding future vaccine stocks, according to Spanish Health Minister Trinidad Jimenez and Venezuelan Deputy Health Minister Nancy Perez, who spoke to AFP.

Neither Spain nor Venezuela has the capacity to produce an influenza A (H1N1) vaccine.

The vaccine, Jimenez said, must “reach all countries, not only those who have purchasing power but also those that have no access, not only because of the ethical imperative, but also because it is the only solid way to respond to a pandemic in a globalized world.”

Spain’s government called for the WHO, together with the European Union, to reserve a portion of vaccine stock to be purchased for developing countries.

“We cannot allow a massive reservation of stocks for purchase by a few countries,” said Jimenez, whose country will not be able to build a laboratory capable of producing vaccines until 2012.

“The countries of the south can not be discriminated against in the distribution of the vaccine, which must be done within the framework of fairness and justice,” added Venezuela’s Perez.

Along similar lines, Mexican Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova called Friday for “solidarity so that money is not the only factor in producer decisions about the distribution of the vaccine.”

Mexico was the epicenter of the pandemic and remains the second worst-affected country after the US.

More than 10,000 people in Mexico have been infected with the virus and 119 have died, while there are 23,902 confirmed cases of infection in the US, and 170 US deaths, according to WHO figures.

The high-level meeting on influenza A (H1N1), which closes Friday, brought together experts and government representatives from around the world, but did not include representatives from laboratories.

Source: TN, VNA