Influenza in Japan jumps to highest level since 1999

Patients rush to hospitals

A Tokyo clinic is flooded with patients, and the staff warns of long waiting times.

Ito Hiromichi, who heads the clinic, says the number of flu patients has surged since last month. Around 25 people a day have tested positive.

The number of flu patients jumped from around the end of the year, the doctor adds. He opened the clinic from New Year’s Day, usually a holiday, but the number of patients keeps growing.

The clinic is overwhelmed, he says.

Explosive increase

The average number of patients per medical institution across the country stood at 64.39 at the end of last month, topping the warning level in 43 of Japan’s 47 prefectures.

Oita Prefecture in western Japan had the highest number at 104.84, followed by other prefectures in the Kyushu region. Major metropolitan areas were also hit, with Aichi Prefecture – home to Nagoya – reaching 82.35, Osaka with 67.53 and Tokyo with 56.52. The warning level is 30.

An expert said infections are believed to have already peaked in some areas, but warned that if another type of influenza virus starts spreading, patient numbers could rise again.

Medical care in critical situation

Medical institutions are feeling their limits as the number of patients skyrockets.

Matsuyama Masaharu, Chairperson of the Okayama Prefectural Medical Association, says that if the situation regarding patients hospitalized with influenza becomes much worse, it could be described as a crisis.

Major generic drug manufacturer Sawai Pharmaceutical has announced that it will temporarily halt shipments of the anti-viral flu drug Oseltamivir, in both capsule and syrup form, due to production shortfalls.

The health ministry says Oseltamivir accounts for roughly 25 percent of the entire nationwide supply of anti-influenza drugs.

Possible serious cases

Some cases may bring serious complications.

Shoji Takayo, at Shizuoka Children’s Hospital, says they have had three young patients with influenza associated brain encephalopathy.

Patients with this, a kind of brain dysfunction, may lose consciousness or have seizures. It is characterized by a rapid deterioration over about a day from the time the symptoms first appear.

Shoji says all three came to the hospital from mid-December to the start of January, roughly a month – a high number for that short a time.

Of the three patients at the hospital, one – a toddler – died.

Officials at Tokyo Metropolitan Children’s Medical Center say it had four hospitalized patients with encephalopathy as of January 5, and one of them has died.

Horikoshi Yuho, who is in charge of infectious diseases at the hospital, says there is no need to be excessively worried since only a small fraction of children develops this complication.

But if children are having problems staying conscious, do not make sense when they’re talking or are having seizures, encephalopathy may have developed. Parents should call an ambulance and have them seen at an emergency room.

In general, Horikoshi added, cases are reported among children between the age of one to around 13.