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UPDATE: Saturday, June 12, 2010      The Japan Times Weekly    2010年5月1日号 (バックナンバー)
 
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Learn from H1N1 experience
(From The Japan Times April 24 issue)

 


要約
新型インフル騒動の対応検証を

The threat posed by H1N1 influenza, the spread of which caused an international health scare last year, appears to be less serious in the northern hemisphere. It's time for the government to review its preventive and reactive policies on H1N1 influenza, in preparation for any strain of influenza that may become rampant in the next influenza season. Japan should also help countries in Africa and Southeast Asia in their efforts to combat H1N1 influenza.

The H1N1 strain of influenza A that was at one time referred to as "swine flu" has infected people in more 200 countries and regions, and killed some 18,000 people. In Japan, as of March 30, 17,646 people had been hospitalized and 198 people had died. However, overall the H1N1 subtype's toxicity proved to be low. Data released in November showed that Japan's death rate from the virus was 0.2 per 1 million people, lower than Britain's rate of 2.2 and the United States' rate of 3.3.

Some observers have criticized the World Health Organization's declaration of a pandemic as an overreaction. In Japan, many problems with influenza management have been pointed out. As one example, 2.34 million doses of Swiss-made vaccine worth ¥3 billion expired March 31 and must be discarded.

The health ministry adopted its H1N1 action plan based on the assumption, later found to be false, that the virus' pathogenicity was high. The ministry was supposed to revise and adapt the action plan as the situation developed but instead discarded it entirely while the new influenza was spreading, and switched to a completely new plan. This, together with poor communication, caused confusion at hospitals, public-health centers and schools.

The ministry should learn from this experience and in the future listen more carefully to the opinions of relevant experts so it can have an accurate understanding of the true situation. And as a long-term goal, the government should encourage the development of more infectious-disease experts.

The Japan Times Weekly: May 1, 2010
(C) All rights reserved
 

昨年、世界に広がった新型インフルエンザは北半球の流行は収まっているようだ。政府は予防策と事後対策を検証すると同時に、感染拡大と闘うアフリカや東南アジアに手を差し伸べるべきだ。

200人近い死者を出した日本での致死率は100万人中0.2人と英米より低かった。

WHOの大流行宣言は過剰反応だったとの批判もある。日本が輸入した30億円分のワクチンは3月末に期限が切れ、廃棄されなければない。

厚労省は病原性が高いとの前提に基づき新型に対する行動計画を立てたが、それを破棄して全く新しい計画を策定した。さらに情報伝達がうまくいかず病院、保健所、学校を混乱させた。

同省は過去の経験から学んで、状況把握のために専門家の意見を聞き、長期的には感染病の専門家の育成に取り組んでほしい。

The Japan Times

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