The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday announced the latest confirmed case of the A(H1N1) virus, bringing the nation’s swine flu tally to 14, while adding that it may soon downgrade its classification of the virus.
“Case 14 is an eight-year-old Taiwanese boy who went to Texas last year for school,” CDC spokesman Shih Wen-yi (施文儀) told a press conference.
The boy, who is believed to have contracted the virus in Texas, returned to Taiwan on May 31 with his mother after a stopover in Los Angeles, Shih said. The child had been placed under quarantine after being identified as showing swine flu symptoms at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, he said.
Of the people who sat within three rows of the boy on the plane, 12 have entered the country, he said, adding that the CDC was trying to contact these passengers and urged others who develop flu-like symptoms to contact the CDC by calling 1922.
Shih said that despite the announcement of another case, “The disease is not as serious as was first thought: The first 10 cases have now all recovered and left quarantine. The status of the outbreak may be downgraded from a Category I Communicable Disease to Category IV or V.
He said the decision needed the final approval of the head of the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC), Department of Health Minister Yeh Ching-chuan (葉金川).
Influenza A was previously classified as a Category I Communicable Disease — like Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) had been six years ago — because its speed of spread in Mexico had alarmed the WHO and governments around the globe, so the strictest standards had been applied, Shih said.
“However, after two months of observation we find that the swine flu may not be as scary as we first thought. Most deaths associated with H1N1 are patients with chronic diseases and poor immune systems, and the four in 1,000 mortality rate is about the same as the seasonal flu,” he said.
If the swine flu is lowered to Category IV, its disease prevention regulations will be significantly relaxed, with people who have been in close contact with confirmed cases only needing to wear facemasks, rather than having to take flu medication or maintain a strict self-monitoring routine, Shih said.
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