BEIJING, Sept. 7 (Xinhua) -- The first serious victim of
A/H1N1 flu in Shanghai is in a critical condition and suffering from multiple
organ failure, doctors said.
The 35-year-old migrant worker is in a coma at
Shanghai No. 1 People's Hospital in Songjiang District, but his temperature and
blood pressure are stable, infectious disease expert Dr. Lu Hongzhou was quoted
as saying by Monday's Shanghai Daily.
Five experts from the Ministry of Health are in
Shanghai to help local doctors treat the patient, who fell ill last Thursday
with severe symptoms and was having difficulty breathing.
The man was confirmed as contracting A/H1N1 on
Friday. Apart from obesity, the patient has no other complicating factors, Lu
said.
Most deaths from A/H1N1 flu are among the very young
and middle-aged people. "That's because those groups have a strong immune
system, which reacts more actively to the A/H1N1 virus," Lusaid. "A hard fight
between virus and immune system can result in greater damage."
More than 100 people across China were infected with
A/H1N1 fluover the weekend, a clear signal that its peak season has begun, Zeng
Guang, a senior epidemiologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and
Prevention, was quoted as saying by Monday's China Daily.
Mass outbreaks mainly affecting students have led to
the closure of more than 20 schools stretching from the Guangxi Zhuang
Autonomous Region in the south to Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in the
northwest, just one week after the start of the new school term.
A Shanghai-made A/H1N1 vaccine will be evaluated by
the State Food and Drug Administration on Thursday, its final hurdle before
being officially licensed for production, officials from the Shanghai Institute
of Biological Products said.
The institute's vice director, Wang Menglian, said
the vaccine is in line to be the third approved by the FDA. Sinovac Biotech Ltd.
in Beijing and Hualan Biological Engineering Inc. in Henan, have already
received licenses to produce A/H1N1 vaccine.
The Chinese mainland had reported 4,415 cases of
A/H1N1 flu, ofwhich 3,577 had recovered, the Health Ministry said Friday
evening. No deat hs had been reported.
Globally, the disease had killed about 2,000 people
and infected more than 180,000 in more than 170 countries.
Special Report:
World Tackles A/H1N1
Flu
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