Japanese boy in U.S. has new flu, 3 at Narita test positive for A type+

TOKYO, May 8 Kyodo -
A 6-year-old Japanese boy living in Chicago has become the first Japanese
national confirmed to have caught the new strain of influenza while three
Japanese males tested positive for influenza A in preliminary tests after
arriving at Narita airport from Detroit on Friday evening, according to the
foreign and health ministries.
The three males who live in Osaka -- a high school teacher in his 40s and two
teenage students -- were taken to a hospital in the city of Narita, Chiba
Prefecture, where further tests are being conducted on samples taken from them
to determine whether they have been infected with the new H1N1 strain that is
rapidly spreading across the world, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry
said.
The three were among 392 passengers on a Northwest Airlines flight that arrived
at Narita airport around 4:30 p.m. They had stayed in Oakville, Canada, on a
school trip from April 24 and have developed symptoms such as coughing, the
ministry said.
The boy in Chicago, a kindergartener, visited a hospital on Tuesday local time
after having a fever of more than 38 C and was confirmed to be infected with
the new flu on Thursday, Japanese Foreign Ministry officials said.
His family told the Japanese Consulate General in Chicago of the infection,
they said.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura said the boy is recovering and that the
government expects to receive a report on the health of his close relatives.
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 trips abroad during the
Golden Week holidays have tested positive for the influenza A virus and later
tested negative for the new strain.
Also on Friday, a boy in Hokkaido who visited the United States last month
underwent tests for the new flu but was found negative, the Hokkaido
prefectural government said.
The boy had initially tested positive for both the influenza A and B viruses,
and the Hokkaido Institute of Public Health conducted a further examination to
determine whether he was infected with the H1N1 subtype of influenza A.
According to Hokkaido officials, the boy visited Arizona from April 17 to 30
and arrived at Narita airport near Tokyo after taking a flight from Los
Angeles.
==Kyodo
2009-05-08 23:16:04