ARGENTINA: H1N1 DEATH TOLL CLIMBS TO SIX

UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 000721 DEPT FOR OES/IHB - P. MURPHY AND D. WILUSZ E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: TBIO SOCI PGOV PREL AR SUBJECT: ARGENTINA: H1N1 DEATH TOLL CLIMBS TO SIX ¶1. Summary: H1N1 cases in Argentina continue to increase. In response, the Ministry of HEALTH (MOH) has begun to focus on defined risk groups. Reacting to an increased pattern of local transmission rather than contagion from outside the country, the MOH has moved from a strategy of containment toward ONE of mitigation. The MOH has announced plans to open additional testing centers around the country. End Summary. ¶2. According to information provided by the Ministry of HEALTH (MOH),the number of confirmed H1N1 cases in Argentina has increased to 946. Fifteen of these individuals are currently hospitalized, 12 of them in intensive care units. To date, six people confirmed with H1N1 have died, at least five of which come from a defined risk group: a prematurely born three-month baby, another infant, a ten-year-old girl with symptoms of meningitis, a child with respiratory problems, and a twenty-eight-year old who had undergone a bone-marrow transplant. -------------- New Risk Groups Defined -------------- ¶3. In view of this pattern, the MOH has defined specific risk groups. These include people living in the critical areas of Buenos Aires or La Plata with a temperature of at least 38 degrees Celsius and symptoms of respiratory illness, and who also have preexisting respiratory, heart, or metabolic problems, are receiving immunodepressant drugs (HIV, cancer, or transplant patients), individuals under 2 years old or over 65, pregnant women, and smokers. Under this definition, the risk population in Argentina is eight million, or 20% of the total population. HEALTH authorities from both the City and Province of Buenos Aires have expressed concern about the rapid development of illness in a 15-year-old male patient who was hospitalized with symptoms, had not been diagnosed with a preexisting illness, and died within 48 hours of hospitalization. Although he tested positive for H1N1, HEALTH authorities are trying to determine if the cause of death was H1N1 or pneumonia that attacked simultaneously. ¶4. The Ministers of HEALTH of these critical areas believe that there are approximately 50% more cases of flu than the 90,000 currently reported. This is not unexpected given the onset of the flu season here, and helps to explain why specific testing for H1N1 will now be done only on individuals who are part of a defined risk group. The MOH has said it plans to treat all individuals with symptoms in these risk groups with oseltamivir. They have increased their purchase of oseltamivir to two million treatments per Pan American HEALTH Organization recommendations. -------------- Mitigation Replaces Containment -------------- ¶5. While the MOH still collects documents filled out by travelers at ports of entry self-certifying that they are free of symptoms and uses thermal scanners in airports to check travelers' temperatures, recent H1N1 transmission rates appear to have increased more from local contact than from international travel. As such, the MOH has adapted their original strategy from containment to ONE of mitigation. Since school closures do not seem to have been sufficiently effective at stopping the spread of H1N1 among children, MOH has said it will only resort to this measure if there is more than ONE confirmed case in the same school. They have ordered school authorities to strictly control children with regular flu symptoms attending classes. In addition, the MOH has recommended that students stay away from large gatherings and group travel. (Note: It is a common ritual for students finishing high school to travel to winter resorts such as Bariloche for their "end-of-the-year trip" during the winter holidays in July.) ¶6. National Minister of HEALTH Graciela Ocana has promised to open 19 additional laboratories around the country in an effort to provide a more efficient testing system for potential cases that develop in the provinces. For now, tests from all over the country are still carried out only in the Malbran Institute, located in the city of Buenos Aires. KELLY