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Russian is first expat H1N1 death in China
By Shan Juan, Lan Tian and Li Xiaokun (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-11-04 08:21 The prognosis for foreigners in China was questioned yesterday after the death of the first expat on the Chinese mainland from the A/H1N1 flu virus. The 32-year-old Russian man died in Beijing after recently flying to the city from Russia, the local health bureau said yesterday. The fatality brought the mainland's H1N1 death toll to eight.
The man, who arrived in Beijing on Oct 28, was sent to Beijing Ditan Hospital by his colleagues on Sunday after he suffered respiratory failure and severe depletion of oxygen. His condition deteriorated rapidly and he developed acute respiratory distress syndrome and multiple organ failure. He was diagnosed as having H1N1 flu on Monday and died around 4:30 pm, the Beijing municipal health bureau said. The case has been reported to the Russian embassy. Liang Xiaofeng, director of the immunization center at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said China's H1N1 vaccine was as effective for foreigners as it is for Chinese people and he urged as many people as possible to get their jabs. Liang told China Daily yesterday the nation's H1N1 vaccine is made using the same techniques as the seasonal flu vaccine, so the technology is tried and tested. However, he did concede that the Chinese-made vaccine had not been tested on non-Chinese people during its clinical trial. "As long as foreigners in China fall into the vaccination priority groups set by Chinese health authorities - such as young students, senior citizens, and those suffering chronic diseases - they should be offered the vaccination on a voluntary basis," Liang said. Deng Haihua, a Ministry of Health (MOH) spokesman, would not say whether foreigners would get the inoculation for free. He said distribution details will be decided by local health authorities. As of Monday, China had reported 48,748 cases of H1N1. Some 118 people were in critical condition. Calls to the Russian embassy in Beijing for a response to the fatality were not immediately answered yesterday. However, the chief of health affairs at the consular section of the Japanese embassy in Beijing told China Daily dozens of Japanese citizens had been infected with the H1N1 virus while in China. "Both in Japan and China, we encourage Japanese people at high risk of infection to take the vaccine," the representative said. "We're still not sure whether foreigners can take it in China. The priority groups announced by the Chinese government don't include foreigners." Israeli embassy spokesman Guy Kivetz said: "China is taking this matter very, very seriously." Kivetz said he will follow instructions from the Israeli foreign ministry about whether to take the vaccination in China, and "if it is available, I think I will be one of the first to take it". Liang, meanwhile, said that China has, so far, inoculated almost 5 million people against H1N1. About 300 have experienced adverse reactions, although only two have been serious. "The national CDC has launched studies on whether pregnant women and children under the age of three should be vaccinated. A detailed plan will be unveiled soon," he said. Health Minister Chen Zhu last week vowed that 65 million people will get the inoculation by the end of year. Wang Junzhi, deputy director of the National Institute for the Control of Pharmaceutical and Biological Products, said the aim of protecting 65 million people is within reach. "So far, more than 35 million doses of H1N1 vaccine have been tested and approved for use by the institute," Wang said. Wang Wen contributed to the story (China Daily 11/04/2009 page1) |
