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THERE were 75 cases of swine flu recorded in South Africa by yesterday morning, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said.

However, unless patients had underlying conditions that could cause complications, swine flu could be treated like the common cold.

“If you think you have been in contact with a patient, it really is not necessary to seek extra care,” said the NICD’s Dr Lucille Blumberg.

She said: “It doesn’t need anything special, it’s very like the common cold.”

Only people already suffering illnesses such as diabetes, emphysema, chronic bronchitis, HIV/Aids, people over 65 and pregnant women should seek further treatment if the symptoms, which are the same as a cold or flu, persisted.

Signs to seek further care included persistent vomiting, shortness of breath and chest pains.

In severe cases of people with underlying conditions, treatment could include the anti–retroviral Tamiflu.

Briefing the media in Johannesburg, Professor Barry Schoub explained that a new virus had introduced itself into the human population in Mexico around March and was found to have components of the avian flu, swine flu and human flu viruses.

Past pandemics took six months to set in, but swine flu only took six weeks.

By July 6, there were around 95000 reported cases with 450 deaths worldwide, although the number of actual cases was thought to be much higher.

Because swine flu was still in its first wave, people had not developed an immunity to it yet.

Scientists were working on a vaccine and deciding who should be prioritised for the vaccine, expected possibly later this year.

Swine flu had spread to all the continents – hence the description “pandemic” – mainly through modern travel.

“Cases around the world are increasing daily so the pool is increasing and the chance of being infected is extremely high,” said Dr Frew Benson, of the Health Department.

The imminent return of government schools after their holidays could also see an increase in the South African figures, with children being dubbed “reservoirs” of viruses.

South Africa’s cases had all been detected through the private health system, so it was not yet known what the impact was in the public sector, which served the majority of South Africans. There was no need to have a swine flu – or H1N1 virus – diagnosis confirmed or ruled out, and unless the patient was feeling very ill, a trip to a doctor was not necessary, either.

The normal approach for cold and flu treatment, which included drinking lots of fluids and reduced social contact, should be sufficient to treat swine flu.

The first case in South Africa was detected on June 18.

More cases were picked up on June 25, with the largest cluster on July 4 found among students who had attended a sports tournament at the University of Johannesburg.

Of the 10 African countries recording cases, there had been a total of 193 noted on the continent with no deaths.

Most cases in South Africa had been mild with full recovery, and the two cases who had also had pneumonia, had recovered.

Most of the cases recovered at home with supportive care.

The institute would monitor the number of cases until 100 had been detected and then would shift from monitoring all cases, to focus on the more severe cases and clusters of outbreaks.

The initial target of 100 was to establish that it was in the country.

In the meantime, the NICD advocated “good old fashioned” respiratory hygiene such as sneezing into tissues or sleeves, and reducing social contact until the symptoms had passed.

Nobody had been quarantined in South Africa. — Sapa