Three Osaka males, who arrived at Narita international airport at 4:38 p.m. Friday, have been infected with the new A/H1N1 flu, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said Saturday.
They become the first confirmed cases of the new strain of influenza in Japan as the disease has been rampant worldwide.
The three, a high school teacher in his 40s and two teenage students, had stayed in Oakville, Canada, on a school trip from April 24 before arrived in Japan on a Northwest Airlines flight from Detroit, the United States.
Having developed flu-like symptoms and tested positive for influenza A during a quarantine inspection onboard the plane, they were taken to Japanese Red Cross Narita Hospital in Narita, Chiba Prefecture, where samples were taken from them for further examinations.
The National Institute of Infectious Diseases later confirmed that they had been infected with the A/H1N1 flu.
Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso said in a statement that despite the first confirmed cases of the new influenza, he does not regard it as a sign of an imminent domestic emergence of the disease.
He said that Japan will continue its efforts to prevent the new flu from entering the country.
In a hastily summoned press briefing, Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Yoichi Masuzoe announced the first confirmed case of A/ H1N1 flu on the Japanese territory, calling on the Japanese people to stay calm.
Masuzoe said that of the 410 passengers and crew onboard the flight, 49 people, including 33 traveling with the three, will be kept in quarantine at accommodation facilities near the airport for 10 days while others are expected to undergo further tests to determine their conditions.
(Xinhua News Agency May 9, 2009)
