Chinese health departments said Thursday more people were put under quarantine while the two citizens who were confirmed to have contracted A/H1N1 this week were recovering swiftly.
Health authorities in east China's Shandong Province put 30 people under home or hospital quarantine as of 2 p.m. Thursday to check for symptoms of A/H1N1 influenza, said the provincial health department at a news briefing held Thursday.
The 30 people, consisting of 27 passengers and three train service workers, were in close contact in a Beijing-Jinan train with a male resident of Shandong who health officials said Wednesday had tested positive for A/H1N1 flu. They didn't show any symptoms of the disease.
The provincial health authorities are seeking the remainder 13 other passengers who were in the same car of train D41, from Beijing to the provincial capital of Jinan, Monday night.
After the man who was only identified by his family name as Lu was diagnosed, Shandong Province declared China's first A/H1N1 flu health emergency at about 6 p.m. Wednesday.
Wang Suilian, vice governor of the eastern province, said Shandong declared the second-level health emergency, which will involve many departments coordinating to contain the disease and keep the public informed.
A health official surnamed Zhang said that the second-degree emergency declaration was the highest-level response available to provincial governments. A first-degree emergency declaration would be up to the central government.
Shandong's flu case, the second known case on the Chinese mainland, involved a 19-year-old student surnamed Lu who arrived in Beijing from Canada May 8 in a flight labeled AC029 and traveled to Jinan three days later.
Lu was hospitalized Monday. Apart from a sore throat, Lu was recovering with a normal body temperature, and showed no other symptoms of discomfort such as headache, coughing or a runny nose Thursday, said Li Zhongjun, spokesman for Shandong Provincial Health Department.
Lu is in an isolation ward in the Jinan Hospital of Infectious Diseases.
According to Li, Lu is receiving antiviral medication -- Tamiflu and traditional Chinese medicine -- in accordance with suggestions given by medical experts from the Chinese Ministry of Health.
Apart from Lu, Shandong has not reported other new A/H1N1 flu suspected or confirmed cases.
Shandong health authorities said they had reached four of the 45 passengers who were in the same flight AC029 as Lu as of 2 p.m. Thursday. The four passengers were all quarantined and reported normal temperatures.
Search for other passengers in the flight is ongoing.
Zong Lin, chief of the disease control and prevention section of the Shandong Provincial Health Bureau, said health officials were sending text messages and running notices on TV to find the remaining passengers.
Health authorities in Hebei Province, a neighbor of Shandong, are also busy with seeking 22 passengers who reportedly were in the same train carriage as Lu but got off at stops inside Hebei or on the juncture of the two provinces before the train reached its final destination in Jinan. No progress has been reported in this front thus far.
Bao, the Chinese mainland's first A/H1N1 flu case, who has been kept at Chengdu Infectious Diseases Hospital for isolation and medical treatment for five days in Sichuan Province, southwest China, is also recovering fast.
All 147 passengers who had been exposed to Bao on Northwest Airlines flight NW029 from Tokyo to Beijing, had been contacted by the Beijing Health Department, said the department Wednesday.
Tian Ming, vice president of Chengdu Infectious Diseases Hospital, said Thursday that the time for Bao to be discharged from the hospital was not decided yet.
"Though he shows normal temperature, eats normally, and is in good mood," said Tian, "A/H1N1 flu is a new virus strain, the medical experts panel need to carry out a comprehensive review over Bao's recovery before a specific date could be given for him to be discharged from the hospital."
Tian disclosed that as of midday Thursday, 126 people who had contact with Bao had been put under quarantine at a local camp in Chengdu, while two other people who were said to be in the same flight with the confirmed A/H1N1 flu case in Shandong had also been quarantined. There are no reports of flu symptoms with them.
In the meantime, health authorities in China's Shanxi and Henan provinces said Thursday they quarantined 16 people who had exposed to Bao or Lu.
Beijing Health Department said Thursday evening as of 5 p.m. Thursday the department had quarantined 426 people and 131 had been released while the other 286 are still under medical observation in four hotels.
Beijing launched three search campaigns to look for the people who contacted with the three cases in Hong Kong, Sichuan and Shandong.
The department said it had appointed 38 medical institutions, which have the capability to set up flu examinations centers in 96 hospitals to examine any suspect flu patients.
Thirteen people from Mexico and Canada were removed from quarantine from Beijing You'an Hospital on Thursday, said Li Ning, head of the hospital.
"We released them after the tests. The foreigners said the medical examinations were understandable," Li said.
The panic caused by confirmation of the two A/H1N1 flu patients in China has helped boost sales of face masks and some traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) with antiviral function, such as Banlangen, a kind of crystal powder made of a medicinal herb bearing the same name and commonly prescribed for treating the common cold in China.
Qiu Xiaolin, an administrative personnel with Tongrentang Pharmacy on Zongfu Road in Chengdu City, capital of Sichuan Province, said there had been long queues of local residents to buy antiviral TCM at his store each day since Monday.
"We now sell 2,000 boxes of Banlangen and 400 face masks each day, comparing 100 boxes of Banlangen and 20 face masks daily before Monday," said Qiu, "No worry, we have reserved a good stock of those materials."
(Xinhua News Agency May 15, 2009)
