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Mainland reports 2 suspected flu cases after 8 confirmed

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-05-24 22:11

BEIJING -- The Chinese Ministry of Health reported Sunday two suspected cases of A/H1N1 influenza, one in eastern Zhejiang Province and the other in Shanghai.

The Shanghai case, the tenth of its kind on the Chinese mainland, involved a 30-year-old man who arrived in Shanghai from Australia Saturday, according to a report released by the Shanghai's municipal health bureau.

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The patient is a Chinese national who works for an Australian company in Shanghai. He boarded the Air China flight CA178 which departed from Melbourne at 9:55 a.m. (local time) Saturday and arrived at the Shanghai Pudong International Airport at 18:40 p.m. (Beijing time).

With body temperature of 38.8 degrees Celsius upon arrival, the man was put under quarantine for treatment. Tests on his saliva showed that the patient was positive for A/H1N1.

The patient now has a body temperature of 38.7 degrees Celsius and occasional coughing, the ministry said.

A total of 31 people who had close contacts with the patient had been tracked down and put under medical observation by Saturday evening.

Earlier on Sunday, the Health Ministry reported the ninth suspected case of A/H1N1 influenza on the Chinese mainland, a 19-year-old boy who studied at the St. John's University in New York and returned to his hometown Wenzhou of Zhejiang Province on Friday.

The patient boarded the China Eastern Airlines flight MU588 which departed from New York at 1:45 a.m.(local time) Thursday and arrived in Shanghai at 4:30 a.m. (Beijing time) on Friday. He then flew from Shanghai to Wenzhou on the China Eastern Airlines flight MU5585 the same day.

The patient had a fever on Friday and went to the No. 2 People's Hospital in Wenzhou on Saturday with symptoms of sore throat and coughing.His temperature was 38 degrees Celsius.

He was tested positive to A/H1N1 virus by the Wenzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Zhejiang provincial CDC.

After treatment, the patient's temperature dropped to 37 degrees Celsius and the symptoms of sore throat and coughing were "relieved evidently", according to the ministry.

Currently, a total of 67 passengers who sat near the patient during the flight from New York to Shanghai are under observation. Two of his family members and two health care workers are also under quarantine.

However, the ministry and related departments are still trying to track down another 27 passengers who had close contacts with the patient during the flight from Shanghai to Wenzhou.

Test samples from the two patients were sent to the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention for a final conclusion. The ministry has reported the two cases to the World Health Organization and relevant countries and regions.

In addition, the ministry has sent two expert teams to Shanghai and Zhejiang to help with the local medical treatment and disease control.

Also Sunday, the ministry confirmed a case which involved a two-year-old girl in east China's Fujian Province, who returned from the United States with her family via Hong Kong and was tested positive for the A/H1N1 flu.

The Chinese mainland now has eight confirmed A/H1N1 influenza cases and two suspected cases as of 19:45 p.m. Sunday.