The pandemic virus influenza A(H1N1) is crowding out seasonal bugs worldwide as flu season accelerates in the northern hemisphere, a top adviser to the World Health Organization said Nov. 5.

Dr. Keiji Fukuda, special adviser to the WHO director general for pandemic influenza, said the seasonal H3N2 strains persist in some parts of the world, but are becoming less common as the pandemic takes hold throughout the world.

The pandemic strain has not changed genetically from its original form, and its resistance to antiviral medications is uncommon, Dr. Fukuda said. However, it is now the virus that clinicians will treat most often.

“It’s clear that the pandemic influenza virus has become the dominant influenza virus in most countries,” Dr. Fukuda said in a press conference. “We are seeing crowd-out of the H3N2 viruses.”

Dr. Fukuda also warned against complacency, saying the agency is concerned about patterns of complications and death, particularly among the younger age groups that are typically less affected by seasonal strains.

The number of cases with complications is putting pressure on hospitals and intensive care units, so health service planners need to prepare to meet the surge, he said.

“Most of the infections result in self-limiting illnesses,” Dr. Fukuda said. “This fact that most people recover from the illness has led some people to speculate that this is a very mild situation and really do dismiss the pandemic situation. At WHO, we remain concerned about the pattern that we are seeing.”

Meanwhile, England has reported only a slight uptick in the number of cases for the week that ended Nov. 1, although public health officials suggested that a school break at the end of October limited continued spread of the virus.

For the week that ended Nov. 1, England had an estimated 84,000 cases of pandemic influenza, up only slightly from 78,000 the preceding week, Dr. Liam Donaldson, chief medical officer, reported. The week was marked by a falloff in the age groups younger than age 14 years, according to data released at a press briefing Nov. 5.

However, he expressed continued concern about hospitalization of influenza patients. At 8:00 a.m., Nov. 4, 848 H1N1 patients were in hospitals, 172 of which were in critical care units, up from 751 hospitalized and 157 in critical care the week before, Dr. Donaldson said.

“Whilst the trend of the disease is a slow burn in the community, and we aren’t seeing pressure on [general practitioners], we’re seeing pressure in intensive care,” Dr. Donaldson said.

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11月5日，世界卫生组织(WHO)的高级顾问称，随着流感季节在北半球加快到来，甲型H1N1流感病毒正在全球范围内取代季节性流感病毒，成为流感流行的罪魁祸首。

 

WHO大流行流感部门总干事Keiji Fukuda博士称，虽然季节性流感H3N2 病毒仍在全球一些地区流行，但随着甲型H1N1流感病毒在全球范围内广泛肆虐，季节性流感H3N2 病毒的流行正日趋少见。

 

Fukuda博士称，甲流病毒还未出现偏离原型的遗传变异，且较少对抗病毒药耐药，但其是目前临床医生最常治疗的流感病毒。

 

Fukuda 博士在新闻发布会上说，“显然，在大多数国家，甲流病毒已成为占主导地位的流感病毒。目前，H3N2 病毒的地位正在被取代。”

 

Fukuda博士还警告不应放松警惕，称WHO关注并发症类型和死亡率，特别是通常较少感染季节性流感病毒的较年轻人群中的并发症类型和死亡率。

 

他表示，并发症患者数量正对医院和重症监护病房造成压力，因此医疗保健系统的规划者需做好应对并发症患者激增的准备。

 

Fukuda博士说：感染大多引起自限性疾病。多数人可从这种自限性疾病中恢复，这导致一些人认为流感疾病的严重程度非常轻，因此对大流行流感麻痹大意。WHO仍然关注目前所观察到的类型。”

 

同时，英国报道，截至11月1日当周，甲流病例数量仅出现轻微增加，尽管公共卫生官员称，10月末实施的学校放假措施减少了甲流病毒的继续传播。

 

英国首席医务官Liam Donaldson博士报告，截至11月1日当周，英国的甲流病例约为84,000例，仅比前一周的78,000例略有增加。根据11月5日新闻发布会上发布的数据，14岁以下的病例数量在该周呈下降趋势。

 

但他表示会继续关注流感住院病例。Donaldson 博士称，截至11月4日上午8点，H1N1住院患者为848例，其中重症监护病房172例，较之前一周住院751例和重症监护病房157例有所增加。

 

Donaldson博士说，“虽然甲流在社区呈缓慢传播趋势，但我们并未发现其对社区保健医生造成压力，我们发现的是其对重症监护医护人员造成了压力。”

 

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