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SYDNEY - Australia raised its H1N1 flu alert level Wednesday as the number of cases nationwide climbed above 2,000, Health Minister Nicola Roxon said.
Roxon said the alert level would move to the newly-created "protect" level, meaning only the most vulnerable would receive anti-viral treatments such as Tamiflu and those with mild symptoms must rely on over-the-counter medicines.
"'Protect' recognises that the A(H1N1) flu is not as severe as originally envisaged," she told reporters.
"This disease, as we know, is mild in most cases, severe in some and moderate overall. The overwhelming majority of patients are making a rapid and full recovery."
H1N1 flu's spread in Australia was cited as a factor in last week's World Health Organization (WHO) decision to declare the first global pandemic in 40 years.
Roxon said the national tally was 2,026, with 1,210 in the hot-spot Victoria, although that state's tally has not been updated for several days.
She said 53 people had been hospitalised because of the virus, with three in intensive care, stressing that most patients had pre-existing conditions such as respiratory conditions or morbid obesity.
While some states will immediately move to the new level, others would take some days to implement new measures, with the protect status active scheduled to be in place nationwide by Friday, Roxon said.
Early treatment will concentrate on vulnerable patients such as pregnant women and those with medical conditions.
Anyone with mild H1N1 flu will be asked to place themselves in voluntary quarantine but, because of the relative mildness of the virus, will not face compulsory isolation.
Canberra Hospital infectious diseases specialist Sanjaya Senanayake said the fatality rate from H1N1 flu had been about one percent globally, much lower than the 61 percent rate from the A(H5N1) bird flu.
"The virus, despite being both novel and infectious does not seem particularly lethal," he told national news agency AAP.
"This last fact has probably surprised many.
"Before this outbreak, many experts would have assumed that an influenza virus that crosses the species barrier and is capable of sustained human to human transmission would undoubtedly be highly lethal."
But University of Sydney researcher Robert Booy said there was no room for complacency when dealing with H1N1 flu.
Booy said many vulnerable people may now defer seeking medical treatment because the flu initially appeared mild.
"If they stay at home for three or four days and then think 'Oh no I'm getting worse' and seek attention from their GP, it is too late for them to be treated with the antiviral drugs that are available," he said.
- AFP /ls
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