Swine Flu - NZ Ministry of Health reports

Officials are investigating 56 cases of suspected swine flu, on top of the 10 people from Rangitoto College who have tested positive for influenza A, Health Minister Tony Ryall announced this morning.

"There are 10 probable cases those are the Rangitoto cases plus an additional 56 people have presented with symptoms," he told a media conference in Wellington.

"These are people who have been in Mexico or the United States in the last two weeks. They are people who may or may not have influenza A."

Swine flu - a strain of influenza A - is suspected of causing at least 149 deaths in Mexico and infecting nearly 2000. Cases have also been reported in the United States, Canada, Spain and France.

The World Health Organisation this morning raised its pandemic alert for swine flu by one level, two steps short of declaring a full-blown pandemic.

Mr Ryall said the WHO had indicated a rise to level five was imminent.

He said the organisation had also advised it would be six to eight months before a vaccine could be made to battle the virus.

Ten people who went to Mexico on a c school trip tested positive for influenza A over the weekend.

It will not be known until today at the earliest - when results are returned from a World Health Organisation laboratory in Melbourne - if they have the new strain of swine influenza.

Auckland Regional Public Health Service clinical director Julia Peters said the Melbourne laboratory was giving the testing its highest priority.

"I think it's really important that we do get the correct result, so the time that it takes will probably be worth it," she said.

About 100 people are in quarantine as they wait for the Melbourne results.

Health officials are still trying to contact 18 of the 364 passengers that travelled with the group on Air New Zealand flight NZ1, which arrived in Auckland from Los Angeles on Saturday at 5am.

"As far as I'm aware, all the passengers that we are able to contact from NZ1 have been contacted and they will all be receiving Tamiflu today," Dr Peters said.

She said health officials were still trying to contact passengers who had not completed their landing cards in full.

A team of about 25 people had been working on tracing travellers.

All would be offered the flu medicine Tamiflu and asked to stay at home for several days and those they had had contact with would be dealt with as well, Mr Ryall said.

Anyone who had returned from the United States or Mexico in the past two weeks and displayed flu-like symptoms should be in touch with their general practice, he said.

But Mr Ryall said many New Zealanders would be getting the flu soon because it is the season for flu and those patients should respond in the way they normally would.
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[xBabyDragonx]

Thank You for speaking the truth,..the WHO probably should have raised it to level 5 yesterday,... they just don't want to panic ppl and cause a run on food supplies. Oh, and let's not forget the stock market effect that panic would cause,...