Austria to change strategy of A/H1N1 flu prevention

Due to a sharp increase in the number of A/H1N1 flu cases in Austria, the country's health authorities have decided to change its strategy for the control and prevention of the disease as of Nov. 11.

According to a Tuesday statement from the Austrian Health Ministry, starting from Nov. 11, the country's pandemic alert level would be raised from first degree to second degree. In Austria, the pandemic alert level has six degrees.

In addition, under new regulations, medical institutions can treat all the suspected patients as A/H1N1 flu patients without further confirmation. Moreover, the discovery of new cases would not be reported. Instead, only those patients with serious complications or those who die from the new flu would be reported.

Austria will also launch a "sentinel system" used in the past fight against influenza. It means that a number of specified medical institutions shall report the prevalence of influenza to the relevant authority regularly, which would then estimate the number of patients nationwide in accordance with these reports.

This system would help realize effective supervision on the prevalence of diseases, said the Ministry of Health.

In addition, since A/H1N1 flu is now prevalent throughout the world, Austria would also repeal its regulations that require people to take a medical examination after staying in some specified countries and regions.

Source: Xinhua