Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK, May 11 2009 (IPS) – Researchers at a prestigious university hospital in Bangkok have been able to cut by 14 hours the time it takes to detect the lethal strain of the swine flu virus, which has infected thousands across the world.
It took the staff from the faculty of medicine at Chulalongkorn hospital s centre of excellence in clinical virology just four hours to identify if a patient has the deadly strain of the H1N1 virus, down from 18 hours before, according to The Nation, an English-language daily.
The procedure has become much quicker because we received ribonucleic acid or the genetic material of the influenza prototype for analysis, Yong Poovorawan, the head of the medical faulty, was quoted as having told the paper.
The news came on the eve of a meeting here of health ministers and senior public health officials of the 10-member Association of South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN) last week. ASEAN members include Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The latter were joined by health ministers and public health officials from China, Japan and South Korea to unveil a blueprint for action to respond to the swine flu outbreak that is threatening to evolve into a global pandemic.
Yet even as they drafted plans to protect their citizens, health officials admitted that they were grappling with many unknown factors surrounding this new strain of the H1N1 virus. Why, for instance, have younger people been infected and died in Mexico, the epicentre of the current outbreak swine flu?
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), those sickened by H1N1 have been generally younger people less than 50 years old, [which is] not typical of the seasonal influenza. [The] median age is 20, with males and females equally affected.
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We have learnt by observation of the cases in North America that those affected were mostly young people; the elderly are not infected as much, Supamit Chunsuttiwat, a specialist in preventive medicine at Thailand s health ministry, told journalists. But we don t know why. Within weeks we will have a better explanation.
What is known, however, is that the incubation period for this mysterious virus passed from human-to-human is two to seven days, he added.
The possibility of the new virus following the route of the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic was mentioned during this week s meeting of leading health officials. That virus, which killed over 50 million people worldwide, began as a mild outbreak in the spring of 1918 and returned as a more virulent second wave in the winter of that year.
This is an issue of human security, this is an issue of solidarity, this is an issue of countries having to put up a common defence, said Surin Pitsuwan, secretary general of ASEAN.
We cannot let our guard down. A pandemic remains a formidable challenge to the region, he warned. A common defence through cooperation is the only way to deal with this threat.
Part of that defence is to increase the antiviral drug stockpiles, share essential supplies, to help with technology transfer and tighten surveillance against the H1N1 flu virus.
For now, ASEAN has a stockpile of 500,000 courses of antiviral drugs in Singapore, and another 500,000 drugs distributed among its members.
In addition, the regional bloc has 750,000 personal protection kits ready to be sent when a red alert is declared, Surin disclosed.
But the health ministers of ASEAN expressed worry about the lack of access to life-saving vaccines, most of which are developed in the industrialised European nations and North America.
The final ministerial statement expressed concern that most of the global vaccine production capacity is located in Europe and North America, and it is inadequate to respond to [a] global pandemic Access to effective pandemic vaccines is a major problem in this region.
That ASEAN is not leaving anything to chance stems from the impact and the lessons it learnt grappling with two other lethal illnesses that swept through the region in recent years. In 2003, Southeast and Northeast Asian countries grappled with the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), which killed 774 people out of the 8,000 who were infected in over 20 countries. The SARS outbreak began in Asia and then spread to Europe and the Americas.
Since the winter of 2004, the region has had to deal with the deadly avian influenza virus, H5N1, which began in Asia and then spread to other continents. It has killed 257 people out of a reported 421 cases, with Indonesia being the worst affected, where 115 people have died out of 141 infected.
ASEAN s small antiviral stockpile, which was created in the wake of the H5N1 virus, will be insufficient if the lethal swine flu virus strikes the region. Yet there are no international guideline as to how much antiviral drugs each country should have in its preparedness plan.
According to the WHO, each country can create its antiviral stockpile based on its own situation and its capabilities. But if there is a full-fledged pandemic, the WHO estimates that between 25 percent and 45 percent of a country s population could fall ill.
For now, the swine flu outbreak is far from reaching such a disturbing spread. The WHO has reported that there were 2,371 laboratory-confirmed cases of the H1N1 virus and 44 laboratory-confirmed deaths as of last week.
Outbreaks have been reported in 24 countries, with Mexico, which first went public about its swine flu patients and deaths, being the worst hit. It has recorded 1,112 cases and 42 deaths, according to the WHO.
Asia has only four cases of H1N1 on the WHO s list, with three cases in South Korea and one in Hong Kong.