H1N1 Cases

As of July 16, Malaysia has reported 835 confirmed cases of Influenza A H1N1, with 84% patient already recover from the flu. The World Health Organization (WHO) said that the H1N1 flu pandemic was the fastest-moving pandemic ever and that it was now pointless to count every case.

The United Nations agency, which declared an influenza pandemic on June 11, revised its requirements so that national health authorities need only report clusters of severe cases or deaths caused by the new virus or unusual clinical patterns. The pandemic has spread internationally with unprecedented speed. "In the past a pandemics influenza vius would needed more than six months to spread as widely as the new H1N1 virus has spread in less than six weeks," it said in a statement on the new strain, commonly known as swine flu.

The new flu strain can be treated by antivirals such as Roche Holding's Tamiflu or GlaxoSmithKline's Relenza, but many patients recover without medical treatment. Flu experts say at least a million people are infected in the United States alone, and the WHO says the pandemic is unstoppable. "It is very much agreed that trying to register and report every single case is a huge waste of resources," WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said. Such tracking has limited authorities' capacity to investigate serious cases and is no longer essential to monitor the level or nature of the risk posed by the virus, WHO said.

However, all countries should still closely monitor unusual clusters of severe or fatal infections from the pandemic virus, clusters of respiratory illness requiring hospitalization or unexplained or unusual clinical patterns. "Signals to be vigilant for include spikes in rates of absenteeism from schools or workplaces, or a more severe disease pattern, as suggested by, for example, a surge in emergency department visits," it said.

Britain reported on Thursday that 29 people had died to date after contracting the virus. Health Minister Andy Burnham said this month the government was projecting more than 100,000 new cases a day of the flu in the country by the end of August. In Malaysia, alert of H1N1 is all over TV ad but most people are not as concern as when the SAR hits. I hope the pandemic can be resolved soon before it gets worse.