Flu spreads in quake-hit Kumamoto as Japan sees early outbreak

Kumamoto – As Japan tackles the second-earliest start of a nationwide influenza outbreak, the flu is also spreading in Kumamoto Prefecture, which was hit by a powerful earthquake in July.

With more than 1,300 people still staying at evacuation centers two months after the July 28 temblor that registered the maximum 7 on Japan’s seismic intensity scale, an expert has stressed the importance of getting vaccinated early.

The average number of influenza patients reported per monitored medical institution nationwide exceeded 1.0 in the week through Aug. 23, the benchmark used to define the start of an outbreak. It was the second earliest start of a flu outbreak since records began in 1999, excluding 2023, when the flu was common year-round.

In the week that ended Sept. 27, the average number of patients stood at 7.17. Okinawa Prefecture logged a figure higher than the warning level of 30, while four prefectures, including Saitama, recorded numbers exceeding the alert level of 10.

Kumamoto marked the start of a flu outbreak in the week through Sept. 6, with the average number of patients reaching 3.86 for the week through Sept. 27.

As of Friday, about 1,360 people were staying at evacuation centers in eight municipalities in the prefecture, including the city of Yatsushiro.

“People tend to be in close proximity to each other at evacuation centers, and the more contact people have with one another, the more likely infectious diseases are to spread,” Koichi Izumikawa, professor at Nagasaki University Hospital specializing in infectious disease control, said.

Izumikawa stressed the importance of steps to prevent the spread of infections, including reporting symptoms promptly when feeling unwell and wearing a mask when coughing or having a runny nose, in addition to basic measures such as washing hands and ventilating rooms.

While vaccinations are important in preventing the flu, vaccines do not take effect immediately, so it is important to get shots early, he added.

The Kumamoto Prefectural Government on Wednesday began asking people at evacuation centers whether they wanted to receive vaccinations. It is issuing vaccination vouchers to evacuees age 6 months and older so that they can receive shots free of charge at local medical institutions from Oct. 13.