Abu Dhabi, October 18: Since the beginning of the H1N1 outbreak in April, about 8,000 patients in Dubai have been tested, with approximately 2,500 tested positive for Influenza A and 5,000 tested negative, according to a healthcare professional.
Jane Griffiths, Associate Professor and Director of Nursing at Rashid Hospital in Dubai said of the 2,500 who tested positive, a majority of them belong to the high risk groups including those below five years old, pregnant women and those with pre-existing conditions such as diabetes.
Griffiths told Khaleej Times that Rashid Hospital used to do rapid testing for Influenza A but have stopped doing so for the past two months.
“We used to test those in the high risk categories – those under five and above 65 years old, pregnant women and those with pre-existing conditions. Now we are going into a phase where we won’t test anybody except for those sick enough to require admission based on their medical conditions,” said Griffiths.
Griffiths added that they stopped tracing individual cases now as they see more local transmission of Influenza A virus compared to those coming from abroad. “Since end of August, we’re starting to see an increase in local transmission both for Influenza A and H1N1,” said Griffiths.
She noted that as the country is going towards the winter months, which is the normal influenza season, then we should expect to see more cases of influenza.
–Agencies