All 9 suspected new flu cases in Japan proved negative by Thurs.+

TOKYO, May 7 Kyodo -
All the nine cases in which infections of new influenza were suspected in Japan
between Tuesday and Thursday turned out to be negative, the Health, Labor and
Welfare Ministry and local authorities said Thursday.
A four-month-old baby girl staying in Akashi, Hyogo Prefecture, was suspected
of being infected with a new strain of flu that is feared to be developing into
a global pandemic, prompting local health authorities to conduct a test to
determine whether she had contracted the disease. But the test showed she has
not contracted any type of influenza, the Hyogo prefectural government said.
The baby, who lives in the United States, tested negative for influenza A and B
in preliminary examinations conducted by medical institutions, but a doctor who
examined her had said the possibility of her being infected with the new flu
could not be ruled out based on her symptoms of fever and runny nose, Hyogo
officials said.
No cases of the new flu have been confirmed so far in Japan. But there have
been a number of cases in which people returning from overseas during the
Golden Week holidays have tested positive for the influenza A virus and later
tested negative for the new strain.
Prime Minister Taro Aso vowed anew that Japan will continue its efforts to
block the entry of the new flu virus into the country and be fully prepared if
any case of the new influenza is found in the country.
''As I do not think it is the kind of thing which subsides easily, we will not
relax our vigilance at this stage,'' Aso told reporters, citing the possibility
that the World Health Organization may raise its pandemic alert for the new
strain to the highest level of 6.
Elsewhere in Japan, a teenage female college student from Osaka who recently
returned to Japan from Vancouver, Canada, tested negative for the new strain
and was found to have contracted type-A Hong Kong flu, Osaka city officials
said.
The Gifu prefectural government said earlier in the day that a baby who is
staying in the prefecture after recently returning from the United States was
tested but found not to be infected with the new type of flu.
Meanwhile, a Kyodo News survey found Thursday that hospitals in Tokyo and six
other prefectures have refused medical examinations for patients even though
their risk of being infected with the new type of influenza appeared low.
Revealing the overreaction and misunderstanding among medical workers regarding
the new flu, the survey found the number of cases in which Tokyo hospitals
refused medical checks for such patients has totaled 212, and several similar
cases were reported in each of the six other prefectures -- Saitama, Chiba,
Shiga, Shimane, Okayama and Kochi -- and Kobe city.
As of Thursday night Japan time, more than 2,100 cases of new flu infection
have been confirmed in 24 countries and territories, resulting in 46 deaths.
==Kyodo