Egypt Swine Flu Toll Touches 38 in Over 2 Months

Swine flu toll in Egypt has touched 38 since December last, according to the health ministry. Since December 1, out of 3,39,483 detected cases, 318 were diagnosed with the H1N1 virus.

Health ministry spokesperson Dr Ahmed Kamel said a sample is taken from suspected cases and sent to health ministry laboratories and the World Health Organisation (WHO) for analysis.

The ministry also added that 80 per cent of the victims came under the high-risk category. It added that elderly, pregnant women and those with immune or respiratory diseases formed the high-risk group and they take extra precaution and immediately visit the doctor in case of any symptom such as high fever, sore throat and cough for more than 48 hours.

The health ministry will give updates of the situation every Saturday and Tuesday.

Doctors got a shock when four doctors died over the past month. Two died of respiratory illnesses and the other two also had similar symptoms. To find out whether the deaths were due to swine flu or a mutated version of the virus or another virus, the doctors have asked the ministry to form an independent fact-finding panel.

In 2009, after a swine flu outbreak in the world, Egypt had slaughtered around 300,000 pigs. Some of the symptoms of H1N1 are similar to other strains of flu. These include cough, sore throat, body aches, head aches, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, diarrhoea and running nose. H1N1 virus gives rise to other complications such as pneumonia, bronchitis, sinus infections and ear infections.

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Source-Medindia