UNUSUALLY large numbers of people are falling ill with sore
throats, the common cold, fever and diarrhoea - numbers large
enough to classify the infections as an epidemic.
Last week, polyclinics saw more than 20,000 patients with such
problems - an indication that the infections have passed the
epidemic threshold and are now spreading rapidly in the
community.
Polyclinics see roughly 20 per cent of primary care patients, so
the Ministry of Health (MOH) uses its patient numbers to gauge the
level of infectious illnesses in the country.
When the numbers at polyclinics top 17,032 cases a week in the
case of acute respiratory infections (ARI), it is severe enough to
be classified as an epidemic.
Last week, 18,377 patients turned up at polyclinics with ARI, a
term used to cover a range of infections such as the common cold,
influenza, bronchitis and pneumonia. This is almost 1,000 cases
more a day than the norm.
In fact, the number of such patients at polyclinics jumped from
2,842 a day the previous week to 3,341 last week.
