Myanmar’s H1N1 epidemic raises concerns
The H1N1 influenza has infected 99 people and caused 13 deaths in Myanmar recently, according to medical personnel.
Myanmar people were seen crossing the border on Thursday to get flu vaccines at hospitals in Thailand’s border province of Tak.
Aka, an adviser to the prominent Myanmar doctor Cynthia Maung, the founder of health clinic in Thailand’s border town of Mae Sot, said the Myanmar government had to urgently implement measures to contain H1N1, otherwise an outbreak could spread further and beyond its borders.
However, Thai health officials urged the public to not panic because H1N1 was not a new strain.
“We have been closely monitoring the situation and it’s the strain covered by the vaccine we have been giving to at-risk groups for free,” Disease Control Department’s director-general Jedsada Chokdamrongsuk said on Thursday.
Among the at-risk groups are elderly people, pregnant women and people with underlying illnesses.
In Thailand, 53,009 people were recorded to have contracted the flu in the first seven months of this year, causing seven deaths.