WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2009-05-01 Time: 10:00:02 Posted By: Jan
By Bronwynne Jooste, Sipokazi Maposa and Esther Lewis
South Africa has not stockpiled enough antiviral medication to cope if a swine flu pandemic hits the country, a local academic has warned.
And another virology specialist says local stocks should not be squandered and should be administered only to those with suspected or confirmed infection.
South Africa could manage an outbreak of only a few thousand people, said Professor Wolfgang Preiser, head of virology at Stellenbosch University, while Professor Ed Rybicki, of UCT’s Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, said there was “definitely not nearly enough” medication in stock to deal with a pandemic, which could affect millions of people.
Rybicki said he was discussing the problem with the National Institute of Communicable Diseases.
The institute’s Professor Barry Schoub would not confirm or deny the claims this morning.
Preiser, during a lecture at the university’s Tygerberg campus yesterday, said that while it was important to treat the deadly virus on time, the available medication should be used only on high-risk people, including those who had travelled to Mexico, who presented with moderate or severe flu-like symptoms.
“At this stage, treatment should be given only to those who have conditions that put them at serious risk. Not everyone who’s been in Mexico should be treated.
“If we start giving treatment to everyone there’s a danger that we might end up putting pressure on, and wasting, the antiviral drugs that we have in stock,” he said.
South Africa had to brace itself for the worst, Preiser warned, as it was difficult to predict the direction in which, or the extent to which, the virus would spread.
“The virus is evolving very fast,” he said.
In Mexico, Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova said on Thursday that he was heartened by a drop in hospital admissions of patients with flu symptoms. Public hospitals admitted 46 patients with severe flu symptoms yesterday, down from 212 on April 20.
In the Western Cape, the woman suspected of having contracted swine flu has been given the all clear, although she will remain housebound until Monday.
Specimens from Susan Kok, 58, who lives close to Mossel Bay, tested negative for swine flu.
“I’m very, very relieved that I am safe. Now we can all just look forward and my body can recover from the normal flu,” she said.
She learnt of the flu threat in Mexico while waiting for her flight home from Joburg to George. She was already experiencing flu-like symptoms.
On Sunday morning, Kok saw her family physician in Mossel Bay, who took samples.
Meanwhile, a US conference set to be held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre has been cancelled.
The New York Life Global summit was scheduled to take place yesterday morning, but was called off by the organisers, the CTICC’s Joey Pather said. About 300 delegates had been expected.
“It was the clients’ decision, a corporate decision not to host the event,” he said.
Checks on whether the flu threat had had an impact on flights in or out of Cape Town showed there had been no cancellations to date.
Fifa said next month’s Confederations Cup, a precursor to the 2010 World Cup, would go ahead as planned, in spite of the pandemic.
Fifa’s general secretary Jerome Valcke said the tournament would be cancelled “only if we feel that we have to”. – Additional reporting by Natasha Prince and Clayton Barnes