A medical official checks the health of a student under quarantine at the Ngo Thoi Nhiem High School in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 9.

The Health Ministry Tuesday recommended a slew of measures against the spread of the A (H1N1) virus, including establishing of special response teams and increasing fund allocations.

The recommendations came days after an outbreak of H1N1 flu, also known as swine flu, caused the closure of a Ho Chi Minh City high school where 59 students and teachers have been found carrying the virus.

The ministry Tuesday forwarded its recommendations to concerned agencies and administrations of all cities and provinces nationwide.

Local health agencies will conduct inspections of schools and offices and assign special teams to work around the clock to enforce preventive and quarantine measures.

Information and communications agencies will supply widely all news about the disease and its status including the network of health facilities that offer treatment for H1N1 patients.

The provincial departments of finance and departments of planning and investment will ensure enough budgetary funds to buy equipment and medicines needed to treat patients.

The departments of industry and trade will mobilize teams to ensure sufficient production of essential goods including power, water, cooking and fuel.

Meanwhile, the transportation departments have been advised to enforce safety measures including sterilization of flights and vehicles arriving from infected zones as well as to supply enough masks for their staff.

The Minister of Health on Tuesday confirmed 35 new cases had tested positive for the virus, raising the country’s tally to 443 cases, of whom 328 have been discharged from hospitals after full recovery.

Emergency meeting

The HCMC administration on Tuesday convened an urgent meeting to discuss preventive measures against further outbreaks of the H1N1 flu in the city.

Nguyen Van Chau, director of the city’s Department of Health, said the number of people found with the virus at Ngo Thoi Nhiem High School in District 9 has increased to 55 students and four teachers, including 18 new cases confirmed Tuesday.

Another 53 students were being quarantined at a temporary clinic set up at the school on Sunday, when it was isolated to prevent a further outbreak.

Chau also said 46 of the infected students are boarders who had either shared the same room or same dining tables with the previously infected.

A total of 973 students were taking summer courses at the Ngo Thoi Nhiem High School and many of them had returned home recently.

Two of the students who’d returned home have tested positive for the flu, the Department of Health in Lam Dong Province confirmed Tuesday. Two other students and two of their relatives have been quarantined after being admitted to the Lam Dong General Hospital with high temperatures and a cough.

Chau said the HCMC Department of Health had contacted local agencies in the provinces where the students had returned to, requesting that their health be monitored closely. The school’s teachers have also made daily calls to make sure the students are in good health, he said.

He said the department would train all teachers in the city on preventive measures to be taken against influenza A (H1N1) before the new school year begins.

Sterilization will also be required at all schools before the new school year and will be repeated weekly, he added.

The city experts were also concerned over the further spread of the disease in schools. More than 1.3 million students in the city will begin a new school year early in September.

“International experts have said they are worried most about with the spread of the ‘unstoppable’ pandemic in schools,” said Nguyen Tran Chinh, director of the HCMC Hospital for Tropical Diseases.

He advised all schools to take precautionary measures including the provision of sufficient soaps to wash hands.

He also said what has happened so far could be the first step toward a wider outbreak of the disease and called for increased public awareness of the dangers involved.

A District 5 health official reported that authorities had quarantined a female student of the RMIT University in District 7 after she had tested positive for H1N1.

Tang Chi Thuong, director of the HCMC Children Hospital No. 1, warned schools against using air conditioners because it would facilitate the spread of H1N1 infections.

School closure mulled

The World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday influenza A has now killed more than 700 people around the globe as experts debated whether schools should be closed to contain the pandemic, AFP reported.

Egypt became the latest country to warn against undertaking the pilgrimage to Mecca, after a woman returning from Saudi Arabia became the first Egyptian to die of the virus.

WHO has warned that the pandemic is now unstoppable and its rapid spread since it broke out four months ago was highlighted when agency spokeswoman Aphaluck Bhatiasevi told journalists the toll was now “over 700 deaths.”

The previous toll published by the WHO on July 6 stood at 429 deaths.

With health experts mulling how best to limit the spread, Bhatiasevi said school closure was one avenue.

“School closure is one of the mitigation measures that could be considered by countries,” she told journalists.

“Different countries would be facing the pandemic at different levels at different times, so it is really up to countries to consider what mitigation measures would suit them,” Bhatiasevi added.

Her comments came after a study in The Lancet medical journal, by doctors from Imperial College London, said keeping schoolchildren at home could in some circumstances be effective against the spread of influenza A (H1N1).

In related news, Taiwanese scientists said Tuesday they had developed an organic compound which could help control the global influenza A epidemic.

The compound, which the researchers call NTU -VirusBom, can destroy viruses such as influenza A (H1N1) and avian influenza and stop the spread of bacteria including those responsible for staph infections.

It could be used widely in hygiene products, detergents and air filters, as well as face-masks and protective gear, the researchers from National Taiwan University said.

The technology has been transferred to a local company to mass produce products incorporating it. Professor Lin Shihming, a member of the research team said the first products using the compound could hit the market in September.

Source: TN, Agencies