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Influenza A H1N1 'Swine Flu'For the latest and most up to date information regarding Influenza A H1N1 'Swine Flu', please go to the Ministry of Health website: http://www.moh.govt.nz/influenza-a-h1n1Information for health professionals
Waikato Hospital – viral laboratory services update14 August 2009 Numbers of both seasonal and swine influenza are now very low. The likelihood that a person with influenza-like illness has the influenza virus is now < 5%. RSV continues at somewhat higher than usual numbers for the time of year and can be expected to continue for several more weeks. This year’s influenza vaccine was a good match for the A/Brisbane/59/2007 (H1N1) – like seasonal strain, which circulated in the Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Rotorua. Swine flu strains have been close to A/California/7/2009 (H1N1) v, which the World Health Organisation has recommended for vaccine production. Specimen numbers have declined to about 100 per week and the backlog has now been cleared, although some results from ESR have yet to be reported. In addition to paediatric admissions tested for infection control purposes, we plan to test 10-20 patients per week over the summer. This would promptly detect any ‘second wave’ of swine flu. For further information please contact the Virology Laboratory, Waikato Hospital. Status of response agenciesThe National Health Coordination Centre continues to support
operations across the health sector and coordinate the ‘all of
Government’ response. For further updates or information and advice visit www.moh.govt.nz Health advice and information
Preparedness for your organisationPlease ensure you have a pandemic plan in place in your business/organisations. If you do have an existing plan, now is the time to review and discuss it with staff and stakeholders.For more information on planning for a pandemic go to www.moh.govt.nz/pandemicinfluenza |