Gov't revises, relaxes guidelines on new-flu steps+

TOKYO, June 19 Kyodo -
The Japanese government formally revised and relaxed its guidelines for dealing
with the new H1N1 influenza Friday, basically allowing every medical
institution in the country to see new-flu patients and for people with mild
symptoms to recuperate at home.

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry also decided the same day to start
producing a vaccine against the new flu in mid-July, which would allow for
inoculations to start as early as October, by stopping output of seasonal flu
vaccine.
Under the revised guidelines, which health minister Yoichi Masuzoe announced in
a morning press conference, the government will no longer count all individual
infections and focus instead more on early detection of group infections.
With an eye on the anticipated second wave of the flu epidemic in fall, the
guidelines are designed to swiftly find and treat patients with severe symptoms
by involving all hospitals in principle and securing enough beds for those
patients, ministry officials said.
The tally of infections in Japan is still on the rise, approaching 750 as of
Friday morning after the first cases were confirmed May 9. But symptoms are
milder than initially feared.
The ministry had been working on revising the guidelines since the World Health
Organization raised its flu alert to the highest phase 6 and declared a
pandemic on June 11, with the danger posed to health by the virus described as
moderate.
The ministry plans to implement the new guidelines in stages in coordination
with institutions concerned, the officials said.
Scrapping the conventional measure of classifying regions by the extent that
the new influenza has spread, the revised guidelines no longer require
hospitalization of patients with mild symptoms and allow them to recuperate at
home.
Patients whose conditions may turn critical because of underlying illness such
as asthma will get antiflu drugs at an early stage of flu symptoms, take
priority in undergoing a detailed flu check and be hospitalized if necessary.
The designated ''fever clinics'' will continue to exclusively treat flu
patients, but most other medical institutions will also be able to examine flu
cases by taking measures to prevent in-hospital infections such as separating
flu patients and service hours for them from other patients.
Exceptions are hospitals specializing in dialysis, cancer and obstetrics whose
patients are at high risk if infected with the flu, according to the new
guidelines.
As for vaccine, doses for about 25 million people will be produced by the end
of December if the H1N1 virus increases at a similar pace with seasonal
influenza, the officials said, adding they will devise from now on who to
prioritize in using the vaccine.
Seasonal flu vaccine for about 40 million people, or around 80 percent of the
amount produced last year, will also be available by the time production
switches in mid-July to the new-flu vaccine, they said.
==Kyodo