Six people have died after becoming infected with the Hong Kong flu virus in the city of Kitaakita located in the Akita Prefecture of northern Japan.
Among the dead were four men and two women, aged 60 to 90 years old. All of them died between Monday November 1, and Friday November 5, while in a local hospital. Dozens more are suspected to be ill with the virus while another 30 others, mostly doctors and other hospital personnel, are being tested for the virus.
Preliminary tests on the patients showed a positive result for the infection while further laboratory tests confirmed the presence of it.
The virus killed nearly 1,000,000 people around the globe in 1968 and 1969. It was a form of the H3N2 strain of influenza type A. So far there are no reports of anyone infected outside hospital grounds.

Have an opinion on this story? Share it!
Share this: 






This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.
Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.
Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.
Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.
Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.
Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.
Hong Kong flu kills six in Japan