The Vietnamese Health Ministry will organise a meeting in mid-September to review the prevention and control of A/H1N1 influenza since the disease landed in the country in May.

The meeting is expected to bring together experts from affected countries and territories to share their wide-ranging experiences in the fight against the flu.

Vietnamese experts see this as an opportunity to study other countries’ achievements in the effort so as to prepare responses to the epidemic during the coming winter – a time when cases of the super-flu in the country are predicted to reach their peak.

On August 27, Vietnam confirmed 86 more cases positive for the A/H1N1 influenza, raising the total number of cases in the country to 2,312 with two deaths.

The new cases include 69 in the South, seven in the North and 10 in the central region.

Of the total, 1,267 patients have been released from hospital while the remaining 1,043 are in isolation for treatment.

The Health Ministry reported that Tamiflu is still an effective treatment for A/H1N1 patients in Vietnam, while addressing concerns over cases of resistance to the medication in Japan, Denmark, China, the US, Hong Kong and Singapore.

However, in the wake of the cases of drug-resistance to Tamiflu, the ministry said it is planning to buy Zanamivir as a secondary protocol should instances of Tamiflu-resistance arise./.