3 Phuket Discos Closed

[Sir Burr]

But given the fact that such deadly occurance of influenza only happened once in the last 100 years, I'd say it's likelihood is not too high.

Hmmmmm..........Hong Kong flu in 1968 killed about a million people. Doesn't that count?

[erobando]

But given the fact that such deadly occurance of influenza only happened once in the last 100 years, I'd say it's likelihood is not too high.

Hmmmmm..........Hong Kong flu in 1968 killed about a million people. Doesn't that count?

HK flu was a pandemic, yes.

But it didn't mutate into a deadlier virus like we believe happened in 1918.

The death rates and the demographics of thoes who died were what one would expect from a "normal" flu.

[geriatrickid]

A. But neither the WHO or CDC "expects" the flu to "take off" Janauary.

The more it spreads, the more likely a more dangerous mutation occurs... so that's why precautions have been taken to control the spread. But given the fact that such deadly occurance of influenza only happened once in the last 100 years, I'd say it's likelihood is not too high.

Health officials and governments have been rightly people to be cautious... wash hands regularly, stay home when sick... sensible advice in any time. But others have interpreted this as it's time to panic.

B. Also FWIW, "flu season" in Thailand varies by region. But, in general, influenza cases start to rise in the dry hot season of (April/May) and then peak in August, dropping steadily until December.

I would expect the same to happen with the current Influenza 2009.

CDC certainly does expect the flu to start again Nov-Dec. Instead of the typical downward trend in the month of January, cases will keep rising until March. January usually represents a sharp drop in reported cases. However, the flu peaked in January- February in Mexico. So yes, it can be argued that a flu in epidemic will be at its highest in January -Feb., with the cases dropping in the spring March-April. The CDC focus is North America and its projections are in respect to North America with emphasis on the USA. Flu season in Thailand follows the Australian model, with the peak in July-August. The North American and European trends wouldn't matter in a normal flu season and Thailand has gotten through it before.

However, November - March is peak tourist season in Thailand and that's when millions of tourists arrive. Hidden away in those millions might be a few hundred foreign tourist carriers that wil bring the virus with them. If the flu is in full force in the EU and North America come December, the zenith of tourism periods, it will devastate the tourist trade. It will also wreak havoc with international trade. I am not panicing, since there isn't much I can do anyway outside of basic hygiene, to prevent becoming infected. However, if the past SARS crisis is an indication, it will crush the tourism sector and take a bite out of the general economy. In a normal economic period, Thailand could ride through it, but we are in a world economic recession now.

The vaccine is already being manufactured in the USA. Baxter is using its expensive patented vero cell techonology and expects to have vaccine ready by July/ August. Sanofi Pasteur's plant in Pennsylvania can put out 100 million does alone in time for flu season. Canada has its pandemic flu contract with Glaxo SmithKline and GSK is still finalizing set up. GSK will also supply the US market. In case anyone wants to know, Sanofi's contract is worth US$190 million while GSK's portion is worth US$181 million for US production. Baxter's contract value wasn't released yet. Hardly big profits there, for all those that said big pharma was going to make a killing. The seed stock went out May 27 to all vaccine manufacturers. The problem is that Thailand isn't anywhere up to speed yet. Ask the health ministry if anyone is working on the vaccine yet. I'd love to know the official position. I expect that Thailand will be too late for this flu season.

I don't buy into this flu strain's targeting of young adults as I believe the explanation lies in the fact that the initial reported cases in North America and the EU were mostly tourists. Hardly, a good slice of the age demographic to base conclusions. If we look at the current reported cases, it is following the expected infection trends and children are the at risk group in Asia. The reason I think that alot of people dismissing this flu as hype won't be around to argue the point come next year is because the flu usually hits those that have certain lifestyles (drinking, smoking, pre -existing health conditions) hardest. Considering the demographics of foreign residents in Thailand, I think that as a group they are high risk. Since people die from complications due to the flu, I would anticipate that the foreign population in Thailand will reflect that, with areas such as Pattaya and Bangkok hardest hit. Again, not good news for the tourist trade. Me worried? yes, but life goes on. I'll get though it, but I think alot of the old drunks sitting on Bangla's bar stools won't.

[NBT TV Phuket]

VDO on http://thainews.prd.go.th/newsenglish/prev...hp?news_id=1167

or

item--1--- A war room has been set up at Patong Hospital to intensively put a stop to a single case of H1N1 virus in Phuket spreading, while a big cleaning day was arranged on Sunday on the entertainment lane.

Following a single case of H1N1 confirmed in Phuket, the local authority and health office called a meeting with entertainment and service operators in Patong to discuss measures to prevent the virus from spreading. The meeting reached a conclusion to have a ‘war’ room established at Patong Hospital working closely with the local government, Patong Municipality and entertainment establishments. One employee, who is working in an entertainment venue, was confirmed to have contracted the virus. The venue, where a 26 year old woman contracted the virus works for, remains closed for 3 days so that the operator can clean and thoroughly spray their premises to eliminate the virus. All 90 staff of the entertainment venue also under go health examinations. On Sunday afternoon, Patong Municipality staff and health officials carried out cleaning and sprayed the road and pavement on the popular entertainment road of Bangla in Patong beach. Phuket Vice Governor Worapoj Ratasrima reported that the patient has now recovered, but is still under observation of a medical team. He also revealed the result of tests for 90 other staff from the establishment, saying that they were all negative. On the business side, Sompej Petmoo, chairman of the Patong Entertainment Club, confirmed that the incident has not had an impact on the business. He said he called a meeting with over 400 entertainment establishments in Patong, 50% of them located on Bangla Road to lay out preventive measures. He stressed to the members that if staff are found to have flu or get ill, they must stay home or notify health volunteers or officials in case of high fever. He believes that tourists would understand the situation and are confident in Phuket’s measures.

item--2--- Phuket Public Health Office carry out an intensive education and cleaning campaign focusing on tourist locations after a single case of H1N1 is confirmed.

The Phuket Provincial Chief Doctor Pongsawas Ratanasang led health officials to distribute leaflets, both in Thai and English, about the H1N1 virus to tourists at the red right district of Soi Bangla in Patong. This follow a single case of the virus confirmed in a 26 year old staff member of an entertainment business. The chief doctor however stressed that the public should not panic, but keep themselves away from the virus. He said the office held a meeting and told educators to inform students and parents about the virus. On the medical side, a mobile van to carry out lab tests, if anyone contracts the virus, is also operational so results can be reported within 24 hours. Tamiful tablets are also distributed to hospitals to assure residents and visitors of the resort island’s preparedness to tackle the virus.

Andaman News NBT TV (VHF dial) at 8.30am & perhaps repeats on Phuket Cable TV channel 1 at 3.30pm, 7pm 1.30am & 6.30am, broadcast to Phang Nga, Krabi & Phuket provinces & maybe Mazz Radio FM108 at 7pm in Phuket, Monday 15 June 2009 & http://thainews.prd.go.th/newsenglish/ & www.YouTube.com/AndamanNews

[katabeachbum]

I think I'd rather contract the flu now while it's still relatively benign, considering if it gains deadly strength later on and spreads like wildfire things could get ugly.

Me think same.

In LOS it will spread extremely quickly. People drink from same beverage, caugh without covering mouth, dishwashing in cold water, fans and aircons, wash hands in cold water.......................

Does anyone know how long people remain ill presently and how many (if any) casualties?

[timinchina]

An emotive subject!! However, in my experience the biggest source of airborne (rather than intimate) virus transmission has been whilst flying. This has escalated during the past 10 years or so when most operators banned smoking on their aircraft (mainly on economic grounds due to the fuel savings made by recirculating cabin air rather than introducing a thru-flow ventilation of fresh air as happened when smoking was allowed). I'm not trying to justify the re-introduction of smoking on flights, more highlighting the practices of airlines at the moment. Not sure of the percentages, but as someone who did long haul at least twice a month for the past 10 years or so, maybe 80% of the time after a flight I'd feel like s**t for a few days, with flu like symptoms. Spending a long time in a recirculated air environment can't be good for anyone, and there's a good possibility that someone is going to end up with the same virus as any other of the 200+ passengers.

I used to think like that, but recently I heard an expert say that air in planes is constantly replenished from outside and not just recirculated over and over, making planes no riskier than any other place. For me the problem is that the air is dry and causes dry eyes, nose and throat.

I believe the humidity levels on planes are around 2%,making them dryer than the Sahara Desert!

[Junglejumbo]

better to get the flu now and build up some anti-bodies rather than later when the strain could be worse, especially following the winter months in the West.

Spray the virus not the disinfectant.

[fiddlehead]

Got a good laugh from todays Gazette and a story about the spraying of insecticides on Bangla and vicinity.

They interviewed one of the workers who said “If it were hazardous we wouldn’t be allowed to spray it"

Yeah right!

At the very least, Thailand is getting a good cleaning.

Saw in Bangkok they are washing all the curtains on the trains and skytrain etc. I wonder when the last time that was done?

[Rayz]

Don't worry! Be happy!

A vaccine against the Swine Flu virus is being developed in Australia and will soon be available, in the next few weeks apparently. It's a race against time, of course, but hopefully this vaccine will become available before the virus mutates into something more harmful.

http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2008/s2593147.htm

[geriatrickid]

Don't worry! Be happy!

A vaccine against the Swine Flu virus is being developed in Australia and will soon be available, in the next few weeks apparently. It's a race against time, of course, but hopefully this vaccine will become available before the virus mutates into something more harmful.

That flu vaccine was dependent upon seed stock supplied by the United States CDC, which in turn obtained support for coding from Health Canada. It may shock some people, but only the United States has triggered its contract for vaccine production and a few manufacturers are rushing to meet the order. To the best of my knowledge only 16 countries have firm pandemic supply contracts in place and most are still waiting on vaccine clinical trials to give the final go ahead. The lead worldwide manufacturers will most likely be Sanofi Pasteur (part of Sanofi Aventis) GSK and Baxter. In case anyone still wants to bash big pharma, Sanofi is French , Baxter is American and GSK is British (although it has a corporate HQ in the USA). These 3 companies will produce most of the world's flu vaccines. Sanofi Pateur has the most extensive vaccine production facilities. It spent hundreds of millions of $/Euros building its facilities. Thailand has a slight problem with the international pharmacutical industry and it will be interesting to see if the Thai MoH goes cap in hand asking for help or tries to do it on its own.Two seed strains were sent sent out from the CDC. One was made at CDC using reverse genetics, a patented process that allows scientists to create a hybrid virus containing the two external proteins of the flu virus - the H1 and N1 in this case - fused to six genes from another virus that has been shown to grow well in eggs. The patent rights to reverse genetics are held by MedImmune, the Gaithersburg, Md.-based maker of the inhaled flu vaccine FluMist. (Big Pharma using the profits it makes for something called R&D.)The other seed strain was also a reassortant - made by a laboratory at New York Medical College, in Valhalla, N.Y. For all the people that like to bash the USA, I thought you might want to know that if a viable vaccine is produced, you can thank the United States taxpayers that have funded the CDC. And for those Americans that think Canada is useless, they can thank the microbiology lab at Health Canada for isolating the code. All the other countries including Thailand are along for a free ride, courtesy of US and Canadian taxpayers.

Edited June 16, 2009 by geriatrickid

[mrukman]

See the gazette gives its readers the information they deserve. An emloyee from a bar which has been shut for 4 days, but not a mention of the bar in question. Well better not to spread panic, or the bar owner to lose to much cash i suppose. Usual answear from the head of the bar scene doesn't seem to have affected tourism mmmmm whats 1st in there eyes, profit or health.

[NBT TV Phuket]

item--2--- on VDO at http://thainews.prd.go.th/newsenglish/prev...hp?news_id=1174

or

Tourists are still enjoying the night life in Patong despite flu and virus concerns.

Tourists, mostly foreigners, are still seen enjoying the night life at Bangla road in Patong as usual after the Public Health Office and the Patong Municipality carried out a big cleaning activity following a single case of H1N1 virus found in an employee of an entertainment venue there. While some tourists said they are not too worried about the virus and that it’s curable, the Patong Deputy Mayor Chairat Sukhaban joined hands with Tourist Police and health volunteers to give out information about the virus in Thai and English to tourists. He stressed that after talking to tourists he said they did not seem to worry and panic about the virus either.

Andaman News NBT TV (VHF dial) at 8.30am & perhaps repeats on Phuket Cable TV channel 1 at 3.30pm, 7pm 1.30am & 6.30am, broadcast to Phang Nga, Krabi & Phuket provinces & maybe Mazz Radio FM108 at 7pm in Phuket, Wednesday 17 June 2009 & http://thainews.prd.go.th/newsenglish/

& www.YouTube.com/AndamanNews