OPINION> FROM THE CHINESE PRESS
Japan's lesson in A (H1N1) cases
(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-05-22 08:07

The explosion of the "non-imported" cases of A (H1N1) flu in Japan should teach us on adopting stricter preventive measures, says an article in The Beijing News. Excerpts:

With the first internally infected case being confirmed on May 16, the number of confirmed cases in Japan soared up in a few days. Since most of the infected haven't been abroad, local media name them as "non-imported" cases.

As we all know, flu virus is always exported around the world from the point of origin of the infection. Thus many Japanese analysts suspect that the so-called "non-imported" cases are actually imported. In other words, the imported virus, which by some chance bypassed the entry quarantine inspection, infected local people. Although there are different channels of infection, the origin is still North America.

With the growth in the number of confirmed cases, it is quite possible that China will face the same situation as Japan does. As a result, we should learn a lesson from the "non-imported" cases in Japan to improve our preventive strategy.

The origin-unidentified cases show that the flu virus might be incubated for a long time before being detected, yet it can infect others even during the incubation period. Thus once we find any confirmed case without overseas exposure, we need to carry out more investigations to identify the real origin of the virus and areas it may have traversed through in order to determine the people who have been exposed to the infected. This is necessary to quarantine all the exposed people and to arrange for their full-scale medical treatment.

Meanwhile, we should spare no effort to expand the monitoring net for the flu all over the country, and to set up more special laboratories and hospitals. Only by such preventive measures can we deter the flu from breaking out on a massive scale and spreading throughout the country.

(China Daily 05/22/2009 page8)