(LEAD) Speedy medical treatment key to fighting Influenza A: experts

(ATTN: ADDS new information from para 16; UPDATES with more details in paras 5-6)
SEOUL, Oct. 29 (Yonhap) -- Speedy medical treatment is key to fighting the
Influenza A (H1N1) virus that is rapidly spreading across the country, local
experts said Thursday.

Experts at the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) and
medical doctors said that of the 33 deaths attributed to the new flu strain, 18
died within 10 days of the symptoms materializing.
They said of the 20 deaths reported this month alone, four have died within four
days of feeling symptoms like high fever, runny noses and coughing.
"The increase in deaths is natural with the hike in the number of people getting
sick, but the virus seems to cause serious complications more quickly than
previously anticipated, making it imperative that even young healthy people seek
medical treatment as soon as they feel sick," Kwon Jun-wook, director of
communicable disease control at the KCDC said.
He said that hospitals and clinics have been asked to prescribe anti-viral drugs
if they suspect a person has contracted the Influenza A without waiting for
timely laboratory test results.
In South Korea alone, close to 8,000 people are being diagnosed daily as having
contracted the H1N1 flu. Hospitals are reporting that roughly 30 percent of all
people who come in to be treated for the common cold are infected with the virus.
Experts have emphasized that anti-viral drugs like Tamiflu and Relenza are
effective if they are taken within 48 hours of a person feeling sick.
"The fatality rate is not very high but the new strain is potent," Kim Woo-ju, a
doctor of infection disease at Korea University Kuro Hospital said.
He said that while 90 percent of all seasonal flu deaths occurred among people
over 65 who have weak immune systems, the Influenza A virus also affects young,
healthy people.
The World Health Organization has reported that a number of healthy people died
within five days of becoming ill since the flu was first detected in North
America in April.
The medical doctor said that while people died of acute cases of pneumonia in the
country early on, the causes of death have since expanded to cerebritis,
myocarditis and multiple organ dysfunction syndrome.
Despite the rapid spread of the disease, some experts here said most people over
10 may have been exposed to the Influenza A virus in the past that has given them
some degree of immunity.
"The reason why tests showed people developing immunity after a single shot of
the vaccine is a sign that the virus is not new," said Oh Myong-don, a professor
of internal medicine at Seoul National University.
He said that if the flu was a completely new strain, it would require two shots
for people to be fully protected.
Oh added that analysis of the strain indicates that the virus may have circulated
among people and pigs even before 1990 and it is because of this exposure that
the fatality rate is not as high as the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic that killed
millions worldwide.
The Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs said that all pharmacies in
the country have been supplied with drugs like Tamiflu and that they will be
handed out free to anyone with a doctors prescription.
At present the government has stockpiled enough anti-viral drugs to treat 2.6
million people, with the total to be increased to 6.6 million by year's end, it
said.
"The government measures should be sufficient to meet all future requirements and
any drug store that runs out of stock will be replenished immediately," an
official said.
yonngong@yna.co.kr
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