Update Eighteen - 12.30pm Saturday 2 May

Media Release

Update Eighteen - 12.30pm Saturday 2 May

Influenza A (H1N1) Swine Flu

Please attribute to Dr Darren Hunt, Deputy Director of Public Health

International situation

As of 2 May (NZ time) WHO reported Influenza A (H1N1) Swine Flu in 13 countries with 365 cases having been notified.

New Zealand numbers

The most recent situation report at 6pm Friday 1 May shows that there are 12 probable cases who have tested positive to Influenza A, and 4 confirmed cases.
In addition there are 116 suspected cases. These are people who have developed symptoms of influenza within seven days of having been in the areas of concern or are close contacts of cases and have flu-like symptoms.

In total there are 388 people in isolation and being treated with Tamiflu. This includes suspected cases and people without symptoms who are being isolated as a precaution because they are in close contact with a suspected case.

These numbers will fluctuate as a result of more suspected cases being found, or suspected cases being ruled out.

Numbers will be updated later this afternoon.

Contact tracing - new probable case in Wellington

These numbers include a Wellington woman who has tested positive for Influenza A (H1N1) after arriving in Auckland from Los Angeles on NZ1 on Sunday 26 April. She then caught a flight to Wellington (NZ405).

Passengers seated in the same row as the woman, and those two rows in front and two rows behind on both flights, are being traced by public health officials. These people will be offered the antivral drug Tamiflu and asked to remain in isolation at home.

Airline Passenger information

Over the next few days airlines will be phasing in more detailed passenger information form for all incoming passengers to complete in case these details are needed for contact tracing in the future.

About 1000 passengers a day arriving from North America are being screened by public health services in Auckland.

Exit screening

At the request of the Niuean Government, New Zealand has agreed to screen passengers on the weekly flight from Auckland to Niue. Niue has recently experienced an outbreak of an influenza-like illness.

Flight NZ1 Saturday 25 April

Seven days have now passed since these passengers arrived in the country. All passengers have completed three days of Tamiflu and isolation will now be able to return to normal life.

Because the case definition is defined as showing symptoms within 7 days of travel to a country of concern we will be interpreting this to mean that from 5.30am on Saturday 2 May we will no longer be specifically following up passengers from NZ1 unless they have developed symptoms in the intervening period, as they would then be outside this seven day window.

Healthline

Calls to Healthline continue to be well above the normal level but are beginning to decline. Yesterday Healthline received 1256 calls, which was 33 percent above the forecast numbers.
People are phoning for advice on a range of topics including travel advice, Tamiflu, masks, influenza vaccine, symptoms of influenza, and self-care for people with influenza.

People are also requesting specific information about the symptoms of swine flu.
At this stage there are no plans to activate the pre-recorded Influenza A (H1N1) swine flu information message.

Seasonal influenza vaccine

125,000 additional doses of the seasonal influenza vaccine have been ordered and PHARMAC was informed last night that stock is secured in Australia and is expected to arrive mid to late next week. The arrival date will be confirmed on Monday.

The 125,000 extra doses is in addition to the 800,000 doses already in stock. Last year the country used 760,000 doses of seasonal influenza vaccine. The influenza vaccine season runs until the end of June.

ENDS

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