First swine-flu case detected in Thailand

The Public Health Ministry said yesterday it had detected a suspected first case of the deadly type A (H1N1) influenza in Thailand, pending confirmation from US authorities.

The result from the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is expected within seven days.

Public Health Minister Witthaya Kaewparadai told a press conference that the Epidemiology Bureau's disease watch had found 25 suspects from April 28 to Friday, most of whom had travelled to countries with outbreaks of the flu, and 15 of them had been cleared. Only 10 remain in quarantine pending lab confirmation, he said.

One is suspected to have had A (H1N1), having returned from an outbreak country, but has recovered, Wittaya said. The ministry has already submitted this person's sample to the US CDC lab because Thailand has no sample of A (H1N1) to compare for confirmation, he said, the result should be out within seven days.

Declining to give details of the suspect, Wittaya affirmed that the ministry had everything under control with strict measures in place to prevent the virus spreading.

Chulalongkorn University virologist Yong Poovorawan applauded the ministry's submission of the sample to the CDC, as this was Thailand's first suspected case.

Dr Rungrueng Kitphati, chief of the Medical Science Department's International Health Regulation Coordination Centre, noted that samples had been sent abroad in the same way during the Sars and bird-flu scares.

If the case is confirmed, Thailand could benefit from research to develop a vaccine, a drug-resistant strain watch and a 15-minute test kit, he said, adding that detection would also reflect on the country's intensive disease-watch measures.

Disease Control Department spokesman Dr Kamnuan Ungchusak said samples had been sent to the US since Thursday evening because Thailand had no experience of the disease and the US had.

The patient, who was well informed about the situation, had a fever on arrival in Thailand and had taken the antiviral drug Oseltamivir for five days until recovering, he added.

The ministry has screened arrivals, especially from Mexico, the US, Canada, Spain and the UK, at Suvarnabhumi since April 27. By Friday it had screened 404,134 passengers.

The health minister also |commented on the end of the school holidays next week, saying some |students coming back from summer camp abroad would be watched |and the ministry would coordinate with the Education Ministry and related agencies to implement disease-prevention measures at all schools.

He said health teachers had been instructed to watch all students |and have those with flu-like symptoms wear facial masks, see a doctor and stay at home until they recovered.