Swine Flu in Japan

Swine flu has made headlines in Japanese media. Many people are scared as this disease is spreading in the country. The government officials are busy with the preparations to combat it. I found a report that until now, nearly 5000 people in the country got affected.

Reuters reported:

Japan's National Institute of Infectious Diseases said on Friday that the new flu has reached epidemic proportions in Japan after the number of flu patients reported by about 5,000 core medical institutions rose above 1.00 per facility, which is Japan's yardstick for the start of a flu epidemic. The benchmark often rises above 1.00 with seasonal flu.

-- Japan last month confirmed its first case of a genetic mutation of the H1N1 flu virus that shows resistance to antiviral flu drug, Tamiflu, made by Switzerland's Roche AG. But the two main antiviral drugs, Tamiflu and GlaxoSmithkline's Relenza, have helped most patients.

It is bad news. Well, I hope that it does not become a epidemic in the country.