Japanese woman tests positive for influenza A at Narita airport

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TOKYO, May 4 Kyodo -
A Japanese woman who arrived from the United States at Narita airport Monday
afternoon tested positive for the influenza A virus, the same type as the new
strain of the flu virus, in a preliminary exam, health ministry officials said.
Further tests will be conducted to see whether the woman in her 40s has
contracted the new flu which has been spreading worldwide, according to the
officials of the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry.
No cases of the new strain of flu have yet been confirmed in Japan, although
there have been several cases in which patients tested positive for the
influenza A virus which turned out to be that of a different strain.
The woman had symptoms including a sore throat and a cough, with a temperature
of 35 C, when she tested positive in an exam conducted on the plane upon its
arrival, the officials said. She was taken to the Japanese Red Cross Narita
Hospital in Narita, Chiba Prefecture, where she has been quarantined.
The woman arrived at Narita airport, east of Tokyo, at 3:45 p.m. on a
code-sharing flight of American Airlines and Japan Airlines from Los Angeles
after staying in Las Vegas, they said.
A total of 226 passengers and crew members were on board the flight. Forty-six
of them believed to have come into close contact with the patient have been
quarantined in the plane and elsewhere and their health conditions are being
monitored, the officials added.
A ministry official said, ''Even if it is confirmed through tests that (the
woman) has been infected (with the new flu), we will not consider it a case
that has come about in Japan because we have quarantined'' the patient before
she formally entered the country.
==Kyodo
2009-05-04 23:54:52