Swine flu

My reaction: Swine flu continued its global march Saturday as South Korea confirmed its first case and Hong Kong and China scrambled to track down anybody who had been in contact with an infected Mexican man.

1. The first case of swine flu was confirmed in Asia. The 25-year-old man flew to Hong Kong via Shanghai on Thursday, and was admitted to hospital.
2. Hong Kong government has ordered a week-long quarantine of the hotel he was staying in as well as its 300 guests and staff.
3. Meanwhile, South Korea authorities confirmed a case of virus, the second country in North-East Asia. The 51-year-old women who returned from Mexico.
4. Globally, 16 countries have now reported swine flu cases. Six countries have confirmed person-to-person transmission. The World Health Organization (WHO) puts total at 13 but France, Costa Rica and South Korea have reported confirmed cases.
5. Mexico’s government late Friday raised its confirmed toll to 16 dead and 381 infected as the country began a five-day shutdown until Tuesday to halt the virus’s spread.
6. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said the new, multi-strain virus appeared not to be as aggressive as had first been fear. Unlike 1918 influenza outbreak that is estimated to have killed up to 50 million people worldwide.
7. Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang was taking no chances in this densely populated, sub-tropical territory, saying he would “raise the alert level from serious to emergency”.
8. The WHO has warned an official pandemic is now imminent, raising its alert level to five out six, but a senior official at the UN agency said a vaccine was in the pipeline.
9. Most cases outside Mexico have involved only mild symptoms of the illness that can be easily treated with existing flu medicines, and some experts have suggested the virus may have weakened as it was carried outside the country.

Conclusion: Asia’s situation is still under control as low number is reported confirmed cases in the region. However, Asia should not under estimate the situation, if the virus spread wilder it could affect and worsen the economy in this financial meltdown.
Asia had experienced severe influenza (H5N1) outbreak in 1997, originated in Hong Kong, where 18 people contracted the illness and 6 eventually died. A large number of poultry was culled in an attempt to eliminate the virus, but a few years later it has reappeared and is spreading rapidly to other continents and rising the human death toll to hundreds.
The reaction from China had strengthened the confidence that china is in position and prepared for the worst case scenario. Because of the large scale of population and density put China in a great risk.
Thailand, the Ministry of Public Health officials are monitoring the movement and development of the previous unseen H1N1 swine influenza and preparing medications and medical equipments to cope with a possible outbreak of the disease in the kingdom.