The public shouldn’t panic over the recent outbreak of the deadly H1N1 swine flu outbreak in Ukraine, but take more precautions to protect their health, Ukrainian Health Minister Alexander Kvitashvili said at a cabinet meeting on Jan. 13.
Earlier Ukrainian media reported that an
outbreak of the H1N1 swine flu virus has killed more than 50 people in towns
and cities across Ukraine.
“We haven’t exceeded the epidemic threshold,
and every year January is the peak of the flu season,” Kvitashvili told
ministers during the televised cabinet session.
He said most of those who had died had sought
treatment too late – six or seven days after becoming ill. He said people
suffering from a high temperature should immediately consult a doctor, and not
attempt to self-medicate, as some common over-the-counter flu treatments would
not be effective after 48 hours.
Writing on her page on Facebook on Jan. 12,
Samopomich lawmaker Irina Sysoyenko, the deputy chairman of the health
committee of the country’s parliament, said the areas worst affected by the flu
included Kyiv city and oblast, Kharkiv, Vinnytsia, and Odesa.
“As of today, 5.7 percent of the population is ill
with the flu,” Sysoyenko wrote. “Of these, 70 percent are children and pregnant women.
“Compared to last year, the number of deaths
(from flu) has increased by 10%. In Odesa, 28 people have died from flu, and 25
(have died) in Vinnytsya.”
Sysoyenko did not say over which time period
the deaths had occurred. She gave no figures for the number of deaths from flu
in the capital Kyiv.
She said Ukraine’s Health Ministry had
determined that most of the deaths had occurred because people ill with the flu
– mainly the dangerous H1N1 strain – had delayed seeking treatment, and that
urgent work was required to educate the population on how to respond to the
outbreak. Five of those who had died in Vinnytsya had been infected with a less
dangerous Influenza B virus strain, she said, adding that the Health Ministry
was investigating why these deaths had occurred.
Speaking at a news conference at the Health
Ministry on Jan. 12, the chief of the infectious diseases department at the
Health Ministry, Olha Holubovska, said the Influenza A type virus H1N1 was more
dangerous because it was capable of provoking severe viral pneumonia, which is
often a cause of death. She advised people with symptoms of the virus not to
delay seeking treatment.
“Ukraine has specific treatments influenza,
but they are effective only in the first 48 hours of illness,” Holubovska said.
“So, in the case of dangerous symptoms – a high fever, headache, muscle pain,
sore throat, cough, runny nose, people in high risk groups must go to be
examined and, if necessary, receive treatment within two days of the onset of
influenza symptoms.”
Holubovska said the groups at highest risk were
children under five (especially the under twos), pregnant women, people over
65, overweight people, diabetes suffers, and those with chronic heart or lung
disease.
Health workers, teachers and educators,
vendors, drivers of public transport, and all of those who work in crowded
places are also at heightened risk from flu viruses, she said.
Kyiv Post editor Euan MacDonald can be reached at [email protected]
