The agriculture ministry will seek to allow pig culls as a preventive measure against African swine fever, something not currently permitted by the law, if the disease is detected in Japan. The ministry will submit a bill to the Diet next year to revise the ...
When is it OK for health officials to panic?
On Oct. 26, 1918, just over two weeks before the end of World War I, readers of The Japan Times & Mail, the predecessor of The Japan Times, woke up to the headline "Thousands Dying From Influenza Throughout the World," and an accompanying article ...
Scientists said Monday they had discovered immune cells that can fight all known flu viruses in what was hailed as an "extraordinary breakthrough" that could lead to a universal, one-shot vaccine against the killer disease. Influenza epidemics, largely seasonal, kill hundreds of thousands of people ...
Flu hits 300 staffers and inmates at Nagoya Prison, sparking lockdown and state of emergency
The last time more than a hundred people at the prison caught the flu was in 2015 when 109 got sick.
Flu viruses resistant to new drug Xofluza uncovered in Japan
The National Institute of Infectious Diseases says mutated influenza viruses resistant to baloxavir marboxil, a new flu drug sold as Xofluza, were detected in patients last month.
Number of flu patients nationwide hits second-highest level since 1999
The number of influenza patients per medical institution in Japan in the week through last Sunday hit the second-highest level since the survey started in 1999, the health ministry says.
Death at Nakameguro Station in Tokyo highlights importance of rest after contracting flu
A recent series of accidents involving fainting by individuals infected with the influenza virus is prompting experts to stress the importance of getting a proper amount of rest. At around 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, a 37-year-old woman who was on her way to work was ...
Suggesting an outbreak of the disease, the number of influenza patients per medical institution exceeded the alarm level of 30 in the week through Jan. 13.
Japan's health ministry issues warning as number of flu patients sees sharp uptick
The health ministry issued a warning Wednesday as the number of influenza patients per medical institution reached 11.17 in the week through Dec. 30. The figure was up by 3.12 from the preceding week, according to reports from about 5,000 regularly monitored medical institutions, suggesting ...
Passengers and crew on two flights to Philadelphia from Europe suffer illness
Passengers and crew on two flights arriving in Philadelphia from Europe on Thursday were screened by medical teams after 12 people aboard became ill with flu-like symptoms, a day after a similar outbreak on a flight from Dubai to New York. All 250 people on ...
One-dose flu drug Xofluza gets nod from health ministry
Osaka-based drugmaker Shionogi & Co. has announced that the health ministry gave it approval to manufacture and market its new flu drug Xofluza, which requires only a single dose regardless of age. The drug, which has been approved in tablet form for use against the ...
