SINGAPORE, Oct 14 — The number of people in hospital for Influenza A (H1N1) in Singapore is down to six, but there are troubling signs that a second wave could be gathering.
Polyclinic attendances are creeping up, and patients with upper respiratory tract infections hit more than 13,000 for the past two weeks, up from more than 11,000 early last month. Asked if this could signal the start of a second wave of the virus here, the head of the Communicable Disease Centre (CDC), Associate Professor Leo Yee Sin, said: “It may.”
Although the percentage of patients with influenza-like illness has dropped to 16 per cent, Singapore is closely monitoring the situation, she added.
With the northern hemisphere winter nearing, countries like the United States, Mexico and Britain are starting to see an expected resurgence of H1N1, with cases climbing rapidly.
Dr Wong Sin Yew, an infectious diseases physician in private practice and former head of the CDC, said although it was hard to say for certain if a fresh surge in H1N1 cases was occurring, the increasing numbers around the world is an indication of its inevitability.
“The writing is on the wall,” he said.
In the northern hemisphere, the outbreaks have been mild, though the increase is coming earlier than the traditional winter flu season, which raises concern that the numbers may soar in coming months.
Singapore has traditional peaks for seasonal flu from May to June and December to January.
General practitioners told The Straits Times they had seen a slight increase in the number of patients with flu-like symptoms.
But Dr Vincent Chia, deputy director of Healthway Medical, said this could also be due to the recent rainy weather or the current school examination period, when more students tend to fall ill.
At the peak of the H1N1 outbreak in August, the number of people hospitalised with the virus was 74.
Polyclinic attendances were at 24,477 a week, compared to 13,496 last week. Almost all the influenza cases now are likely to be H1N1.
At a press conference yesterday, Leo said data from more than 100 H1N1 patients showed that only one in two had a temperature of more than 38.1 degrees Celsius, so fever is not the only indicator of H1N1.
She urged that those in the high-risk group receive Tamiflu if they have flu-like symptoms but not a high fever.
She also urged children, pregnant women, and those who were obese or had underlying conditions to go for the seasonal flu and H1N1 vaccinations, when they are available in the coming weeks.
On another matter, infectious diseases experts from four public hospitals have come together for the first time to collaborate on two clinical studies.
One will study if a higher dosage of anti-viral drug Tamiflu is effective for some patients, especially those who are overweight.
The other will study if dengue patients whose blood platelet count drops to below 20,000 per ml, compared to the normal count of 150,000 to 450,000 per ml, will benefit from a platelet transfusion. — The Straits Times
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