NEWS FRIDAY JULY 24 2009
SMS the Argus ate channels utilised to ensure
rt.
Dr Caryn Collins, an emer-
gency room doctor at Life
Vincent Pallotti Hospital in
Pinelands, was one of three
doctors who saw Wilson after he
returned to Cape Town and tried
to find information about his
swine flu test results.
“Everyone I spoke to (at the
Gauteng Department of Health
and NICD) was so nonchalant,”
Collins said.
“There was complete apathy.
Scientists in dark over HIV and H1N1
MICHELLE PIETERSEN
Staff Reporter
THERE is a “tremendous amount
of mystery” surrounding the
swine flu pandemic, and scien-
tists are still unsure of how the
H1N1 virus responsible for this
flu will react in individuals with
HIV/Aids, says a distinguished
South African medical scientist.
Professor Barry Schoub, exe-
cutive director for the National
Institute for Communicable Dis-
eases, was speaking at a Charles
Darwin lecture series event at the
University of Cape Town’s New
Learning Centre in Observatory
last night.
Schoub said he could not
elaborate on how the H1N1 and
HIV viruses would react if
combined.
“We really can’t comment. We
9
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This person could have died and
no one did anything about it.
“He had apparently had swabs
taken, (but) they obviously took
no care of the swabs. We don’t
know how many others’ cases
have gone missing.”
Yasmin Isaacs, a receptionist
at Pinelands Medicross, who also
tried to find out Wilson’s swine
flu results, agreed that the NICD
was unreceptive.
After his condition improved
close to a week after returning to
South Africa and he was released
from the hospital, Wilson
received an SMS from Terry Mar-
shall at the NICD.
The SMS read: “Hi Mr Wilson.
We are unable to track your spec-
imen for influenza testing. It has
not reached the NICD.”
The NICD’s director of virol-
ogy, Dr Adrian Puren, said proto-
cols were in place to ensure spec-
imens could be traced. He said he
could not comment on what had
gone wrong in Wilson’s case as no
tests had been delivered by the
Gauteng Department of Health
and no official complaint had
been filed.
He said he hoped forms had
been completed when the swabs
were taken at O R Tambo Air-
port, to make sure the specimens
could be traced.
It was important that doctors
file complaints in cases such as
this, he said.
“If there was a problem, we
need to know – were the appropri-
don’t know how it (the H1N1
virus) will behave in HIV/Aids
individuals.
“Research is being collected,
and detailed characteristics are
being assembled.”
Schoub said that although a
significant amount of informa-
tion about the H1N1 virus had
been collected during a short
period, there were still many
questions that needed to be
answered.
“This is a public health prob-
lem, and all we know is that the
virus has the power to adapt to its
host, and its changes.”
He also said that there were a
number of possibilities as to how
the pandemic would pan out.
At best, it would “most likely”
replace the seasonal flu virus.
“The most likely view is that
what we are seeing now is that
the patient was adequately cared
for? From our perspective, that’s
very, very key,” he said.
A Gauteng Department of
Health spokesman referred the
Cape Argus to the national
Department of Health, which he
said would know about opera-
tions at O R Tambo.
Health Department spokes-
man Fidel Hadebe was given the
information about Wilson’s case
and said he would look into the
matter.
Asked why Wilson would not
have been quarantined at O R
Tambo, Hadebe said this was not
required under World Health
FRESH
Organisation (WHO) guidelines
on preventing the virus’s spread.
Hadebe said the health offi-
cials at the airport were “trained
and highly qualified”.
“They make a decision on the
info that they have: whether to
keep the person or send them to
the nearest hospital.
“We don’t want to create a sit-
uation where people’s lives are
unreasonably disrupted.”
Wilson said his being noticed
by the thermal scanners at O R
Tambo had been encouraging.
“Everything seemed to have
been in place and done correctly.
And then it all fell apart.”
Collins said she was upset
with the system’s failure in
Wilson’s case, regardless of
whether he had swine flu.
As of Wednesday, when the
WHO’s Regional Office for Africa
released its latest statistics, there
had been 119 reported cases of
swine flu and no deaths in South
Africa.
richie.duchon@inl.co.za
FAIR
COUNTY HICKEN
the H1N1 will replace the sea-
FRESH C per kg
BREASTS
sonal flu. Or maybe that’s what
we want it to.
“Because this is a new virus
and the first pandemic in 40
years, there is a certain amount
of unpredictability surrounding
it,” he said.
In a worst-case scenario, the
current outbreak of influenza
could possibly be the calm before
the storm, he warned.
The first outbreak of H1N1
virus had lasted for 10 to 12 weeks
– similar to the 1918 pandemic.
Then, six months after the first
outbreak, a second extremely
virulent “wave” of the flu had
killed between 50 and 100 million
people world-wide.
“At this stage the jury is still
out – it’s early days. We have to
keep a watchful eye,” said
Schoub.
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