New-flu epidemic has fully begun in Japan, minister declares+

TOKYO, Aug. 19 Kyodo -
An epidemic of the new H1N1 strain of influenza A has fully begun in Japan,
Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Yoichi Masuzoe declared Wednesday following
a report of the third death in the country.

Eighty-six infected people were hospitalized during the week to Tuesday and 36
of them had chronic diseases that raise the risk of their condition becoming
serious, including the three who have died since Saturday, the health ministry
said in a tally released afterward.
The ministry also said the cases of group infection at medical, welfare and
other facilities reached about 660 during the week to Sunday, bringing the
total since the survey began in late July to about 1,700.
''It is reasonable to consider that a full-fledged epidemic has begun,''
Masuzoe said at a press conference.
Around 1:30 a.m. Wednesday, an 81-year-old woman from Nagoya died of pneumonia
after contracting the H1N1 strain, the Nagoya city office said, reporting the
third confirmed death in Japan from the highly contagious flu.
The government will reinforce measures to prevent new-flu cases from becoming
more deadly, including offering information to people with chronic illnesses
such as diabetes or asthma, as well as pregnant women, as they are susceptible
to developing severer symptoms, Masuzoe said.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura in a separate press conference Wednesday
called on the population to deal with the situation with composure while taking
such preventive measures as hand-washing and gargling.
The government's top spokesman ruled out calling for restraining the ongoing
campaign or public assemblies for the Aug. 30 general election despite the
apparent epidemic.
On Saturday, a 57-year-old man in Okinawa Prefecture became Japan's first
fatality related to the new flu and on Tuesday a 77-year-old man in Kobe became
the second.
The National Institute of Infectious Diseases said Tuesday the number of
influenza patients reported per medical institution in Japan, considered to be
mostly new-flu patients, has almost reached a level indicating the start of a
flu epidemic.
According to Nagoya city officials, the woman had been suffering from other
underlining illnesses -- multiple myeloma or a type of blood cancer and cardiac
insufficiency -- and died after developing acute pneumonia in an
immune-compromised condition.
A resident of a nursing-care facility in Nagoya, the woman was hospitalized
last Thursday and was moved to an isolated room Saturday due to a 39.5 C fever
and severe coughing. Test results confirmed Tuesday that she was suffering from
the new flu.
She had no record of overseas travel and it is unknown how she became infected,
the officials said.
''We had not been able to predict such an expansion in infections in the middle
of summer,'' Masuzoe said. ''Because it was not too virulent, a sense of
overconfidence among people may have helped the infection to spread so much.''
The government will aim to make vaccines available for 53 million people while
considering concrete measures such as whether to import them and priority
ranking for vaccination in a meeting with experts and patient groups, he said.
The number of patients with the flu in Japan has increased continuously during
the summer.
The global death toll from the new-type influenza also increased and topped
2,000 as of Tuesday at 2,144, according to the European Center for Disease
Prevention and Control.
The World Health Organization declared a pandemic of the new flu on June 11,
raising its alert level to the highest phase of 6.
==Kyodo