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The 2009 flu pandemic in Hong Kong was part of the worldwide pandemic that started with the city's first reported case of influenza A virus subtype H1N1 infection, commonly called swine flu, on 1 May 2009, in a Mexican national who had travelled to Hong Kong via Shanghai. It was also the first reported case of in Asia. [1] As of 25 November 2009, there have been 32,301 confirmed cases of swine flu in the city. [2]
Following news of the flu outbreak in Mexico and the United States, on 26 April, Secretary for Food and Health York Chow announced that Hong Kong had raised its influenza pandemic alertness level to "serious", [3] out of three possible alertness levels: alert, serious, and emergency. [4] Hong Kong also became one of the first jurisdictions to declare swine flu as a notifiable disease, and much of the procedures against the spread of the swine flu were learned from the 2003 SARS outbreak, of which Hong Kong was the center. [5] [6] Chow advised Hong Kong residents to avoid travelling to cities facing an outbreak of the flu, and stated that swine flu has been added to the list of notifiable disease, which required cases of the flu to be reported to the government. Residents were also advised to take precautionary measures against infection if travel to affected areas was necessary. Surveillance measures at boundary control points were boosted to detect travellers with fever and respiratory symptoms, and travellers who were suspected of being infected would be quarantined and monitored. [3]
On 1 May, Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang told reporters that tests performed by the Department of Health and the University of Hong Kong confirmed that a 25-year-old Mexican citizen who had traveled to the city via Shanghai on a China Eastern Airlines flight was infected with swine flu. [1] [7] In light of this, Tsang raised Hong Kong's influenza pandemic alertness level to "emergency" from "serious". This first confirmed case of swine flu in Hong Kong was also the first confirmed case in Asia. The man had developed a fever after arriving in Hong Kong, and was then isolated in Princess Margaret Hospital, the hospital designated to handle swine flu cases. [8] The hotel where the traveller had stayed, the Metropark Hotel in Wanchai, [9] was quarantined and about 200 guests and 100 staff were instructed to remain in the hotel for seven days regardless of whether or not they had come into contact with the traveller. [7] Authorities also made an effort to track down anybody who had made contact with the traveller, with Chow appealing to those who were on the same flight as the traveller to contact health officials. [10]
The guests and staff were released on 8 May, when the quarantine expired. Tsang was at the hotel for the release, speaking to reporters and with those who had been quarantined. To compensate for the quarantine, the government offered guests two free nights of accommodation at other hotels in Hong Kong. The Mexican traveller was also discharged after treatment with the antiviral drug Tamiflu and the Centre for Health Protection confirmed that he was no longer carrying the virus. [11]
Following the finding that 12 students at St. Paul's Convent School contracted the swine flu virus, Chief Executive Donald Tsang ordered the closure of all primary schools, kindergartens, and special schools for two weeks starting from 12 June. The 12 cases of infection were confirmed to be the first known cluster of local transmission of the virus. According to the Education Bureau, the school closure affected about 500,000 students from 964 kindergartens, 601 primary schools and 61 special schools. [12] [13]
In virology, influenza A virus subtype H1N1 (A/H1N1) is a subtype of influenza A virus. Major outbreaks of H1N1 strains in humans include the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, the 1977 Russian flu pandemic and the 2009 swine flu pandemic. It is an orthomyxovirus that contains the glycoproteins hemagglutinin (H) and neuraminidase (N), antigens whose subtypes are used to classify the strains of the virus as H1N1, H1N2 etc. Hemagglutinin causes red blood cells to clump together and binds the virus to the infected cell. Neuraminidase is a type of glycoside hydrolase enzyme which helps to move the virus particles through the infected cell and assist in budding from the host cells.
Influenza A virus subtype H3N2 (A/H3N2) is a subtype of viruses that causes influenza (flu). H3N2 viruses can infect birds and mammals. In birds, humans, and pigs, the virus has mutated into many strains. In years in which H3N2 is the predominant strain, there are more hospitalizations.
Yuen Kwok-yung is a Hong Kong microbiologist, physician and surgeon. He is a prolific researcher, with most of his nearly 800 papers related to research on novel microbes or emerging infectious diseases. He led a team identifying the SARS coronavirus that caused the SARS pandemic of 2003–4, and traced its genetic origins to wild bats. During the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, he has acted as expert adviser to the Hong Kong government.
The 2009 swine flu pandemic, caused by the H1N1/swine flu/influenza virus and declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) from June 2009 to August 2010, was the third recent flu pandemic involving the H1N1 virus. The first identified human case was in La Gloria, Mexico, a rural town in Veracruz. The virus appeared to be a new strain of H1N1 that resulted from a previous triple reassortment of bird, swine, and human flu viruses which further combined with a Eurasian pig flu virus, leading to the term "swine flu".
The 2009 flu pandemic in the United States was caused by a novel strain of the Influenza A/H1N1 virus, commonly referred to as "swine flu", that was first detected on 15 April 2009. While the 2009 H1N1 virus strain was commonly referred to as "swine flu", there is no evidence that it is endemic to pigs or of transmission from pigs to people; instead, the virus spreads from person to person. On April 25, the World Health Organization declared a public health emergency, followed concurringly by the Obama administration on April 26.
The 2009 swine flu pandemic in Canada was part of an epidemic in 2009 of a new strain of influenza A virus subtype H1N1 causing what has been commonly called swine flu. In Canada, roughly 10% of the populace has been infected with the virus, with 428 confirmed deaths ; non-fatal individual cases are for the most part no longer being recorded. About 40% of Canadians have been immunized against H1N1 since a national vaccination campaign began in October 2009, with Canada among the countries in the world leading in the percentage of the population that has been vaccinated. The widespread effect of H1N1 in Canada raised concerns during the months leading to the XXI Olympic Winter Games, which took place in Vancouver in February 2010.
This article covers the chronology of the 2009 novel influenza A (H1N1) pandemic. Flag icons denote the first announcements of confirmed cases by the respective nation-states, their first deaths, and relevant sessions and announcements of the World Health Organization (WHO), the European Union , and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
In March and April 2009, an outbreak of a new strain of influenza commonly referred to as "swine flu" infected many people in Mexico and other parts of the world, causing illness ranging from mild to severe. Initial reports suggested that the outbreak had started in February due to farming practices at a pig farm half-owned by Smithfield Foods. Smithfield Foods stated that it had found no clinical signs or symptoms of the presence of swine influenza in the company's swine herd, or among its employees at its joint ventures in Mexico, that it routinely administers influenza virus vaccination to their swine herds and that it conducts monthly testing for the presence of swine influenza. The new strain was identified as a combination of several different strains of Influenzavirus A, subtype H1N1, including separate strains of this subtype circulating in humans and in pigs. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) expressed serious concerns that the new strain, which transmits between humans and has had a relatively high mortality rate in the possible and confirmed Mexican cases, has the potential to become an influenza pandemic. It was reported that, because the virus was already widespread, containment would be impossible. The WHO declared a public health emergency of international concern in response to the outbreak on April 25, 2009.
The 2009 flu pandemic was a global outbreak of a new strain of influenza A virus subtype H1N1, first identified in April 2009, termed Pandemic H1N1/09 virus by the World Health Organization (WHO) and colloquially called swine flu. The outbreak was first observed in Mexico, and quickly spread globally. On 11 June 2009, the WHO declared the outbreak to be a pandemic. The overwhelming majority of patients experienced mild symptoms, but some persons were in higher risk groups, such as those with asthma, diabetes, obesity, heart disease, who were pregnant or had a weakened immune system. In the rare severe cases, around 3–5 days after symptoms manifest, the sufferer's condition declines quickly, often to the point of respiratory failure.
Australia had 37,537 confirmed cases of H1N1 Influenza 2009 and 191 deaths reported by Department of Health but only 77 deaths reported by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The actual numbers are much larger, as only serious cases warranted being tested and treated at the time. Suspected cases have not been reported by the Department of Health and Ageing since 18 May 2009 because they were changing too quickly to report. Sources say that as many as 1600 Australians may have actually died as a result of this virus. On 23rd of May 2009 the federal government classified the outbreak as CONTAIN phase except in Victoria where it was escalated to the SUSTAIN phase on 3rd of June 2009. This gave government authorities permission to close schools in order to slow the spread of the disease. On 17 June 2009 the Department of Health and Ageing introduced a new phase called PROTECT. This modified the response to focus on people with high risk of complications from the disease. Testing at airports was discontinued. The national stockpile of antiviral drugs were no longer made available to people with the flu unless there were more than mild symptoms or a high risk of dying.
This article deals with the status and efforts regarding the 2009 swine flu pandemic by country and continent/region.
The pandemic H1N1/09 virus is a swine origin influenza A virus subtype H1N1 strain that was responsible for the 2009 swine flu pandemic. This strain is often called swine flu by the public media. For other names, see the Nomenclature section below.
The 2009 flu pandemic was confirmed to have spread to the Philippines on May 21, 2009. In the following days, several local cases were reported to be caused by contact with two infected Taiwanese women who attended a wedding ceremony in Zambales.
The 2009 flu pandemic in Asia, part of an epidemic in 2009 of a new strain of influenza A virus subtype H1N1 causing what has been commonly called swine flu, afflicted at least 394,133 people in Asia with 2,137 confirmed deaths: there were 1,035 deaths confirmed in India, 737 deaths in China, 415 deaths in Turkey, 192 deaths in Thailand, and 170 deaths in South Korea. Among the Asian countries, South Korea had the most confirmed cases, followed by China, Hong Kong, and Thailand.
The 2009 swine flu pandemic in North America, part of a pandemic in 2009 of a new strain of influenza A virus subtype H1N1 causing what has been commonly called swine flu, began in the United States or Mexico.
The 2009 flu pandemic in Oceania, part of an epidemic in 2009 of a new strain of influenza A virus subtype H1N1 causing what has been commonly called swine flu, has afflicted at over 22,000 people in Oceania, with 56 confirmed deaths. Almost all of the cases in Oceania have been in Australia, where the majority of cases have resulted from internal community spread of the virus. In addition, the government of New Zealand, where most of the remainder of cases in Oceania have occurred, is on high alert for any people travelling into the country with flu-like symptoms.
The 2009 flu pandemic hit Africa two months later than other continents with the first case reported in Egypt on June 2, 2009. As of December 1, 30 countries in Africa had reported cases and 7 countries in Africa had reported a total of 108 deaths. It was the least affected continent.
The 2009 swine flu pandemic in New Zealand was caused by a novel strain of the A/H1N1 influenza virus. A total of 3,175 cases and 69 deaths were recorded, although a seroprevalence study estimated that around 800,000 individuals may have been infected during the initial wave of the pandemic.
The 2009 flu pandemic was a global outbreak of a new strain of influenza A virus subtype H1N1, first identified in April 2009, termed Pandemic H1N1/09 virus by the World Health Organization (WHO) and colloquially called swine flu. The outbreak was first observed in Mexico, and quickly spread globally. On 11 June 2009, WHO declared the outbreak to be a pandemic. The overwhelming majority of patients experience mild symptoms", but some persons are in higher risk groups, such as those with asthma, diabetes, obesity, heart disease, or who are pregnant or have a weakened immune system. In the rare severe cases, around 3–5 days after symptoms manifest, the person's condition declines quickly, often to the point respiratory failure.
2009 flu pandemic in Taiwan began on May 20, 2009, when a non-citizen who had been living in Taiwan returned from the United States via Hong Kong. By the end of September, more than 90% of influenza A detected in the community were Influenza A (H1N1).
