Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Acting CEO of LBJ Tropical Medical Center Dr. Akapusi Ledua said he was nervous to respond, when asked about an update on the latest flu like disease, in American Samoa.

RSV or Respiratory Syncytial Virus has caused concerns to the community especially when the Medical Authority believed it was necessary to close down the day care centers temporarily.

In an interview with local media representatives at a special conference held inside the administration office in Fagaalu, on Thursday June 15, Dr Ledua said,  "I was very nervous to answer the question, as I don’t have the exact number right now, but over the last 70 hours, over 20 children have been admitted to the hospital for RSV, or RSV like illnesses.  And about 50 percent of them needed ventilators or machines to support their breathing.

"That shows the severity of the disease, it's mainly affecting those who are less than a year old,” he said, adding that about 50 percent require breathing support.

The hospital is still having a lot of patients coming into the clinics and emergency room, he said.  

"So we are monitoring this and working together with the Department of Health."  

The result of controlling the spread of RSV, "you must have seen and heard that all day care centers are being closed to control the spread of RSV out to the community.”

One of the main factors affecting the cases at this time, according to Dr. Ledua, is that when the outbreak occurred, there were numbers of cases that required care and admission at once.

"So we were working really hard with the Medical Department, and we're getting assistance from the Department of Health nursing."

"All our nurses that work mainly in the offices, are on the floor to help out. And we are hoping for a Doctor whom we've already signed a contract with, and to bring in nurses who are already US educated Nurses.”

Dr Ledua said they've already signed contracts with one from Thailand and two from the Philippines. They've  already got the paperwork and will be processing their Immigration and permits. Hopefully the hospital will be able to get these nurses on board by the end of July, he prays.

Dr Ledua also acknowledged  efforts  of the local nurses who have worked really hard to meet the demand, "and also we must know that we're all human, we can only do so much. It's time to prevent as much as possible, where the body gives up, from fatigue, the body gets tired and cannot make decisions properly."  

The Acting CEO, believes there's light at the end of the tunnel, now they are trying to expedite as much as possible the nursing recruiting program.

The Hospital Administration is hoping and praying, before the end of July they should have at least three new nurses here.

When asked about an update on measles, Dr Ledua said, they haven't seen any signs or symptoms of measles. “There's a team from overseas who came here to specifically see if there's measles.  Besides RSV, there are very few influenza types A and Type B.  While RSV is a type of flu, it's easy to spread and can spread very quickly out there in the community.”

Dr. Ledua said that RSV 1 is what is affecting children 1-year and younger, but very few from the 1-5 yrs age group are affected. And as for babies — because their immune system is low, they can easily get this highly infectious disease.

He said before RSV was so prevalent, the babies would be brought to the hospital when they had a fever. Now with RSV in the community many just stay home and are given Tylenol to get better.

But, according to Dr. Ledua, what's unusual now is the babies developing pneumonia and by the time they get to the hospital, they require a breathing machine.