Romanian Returning From Italy With Common Flu Sparks False Alarm

Cercel, member of the Coordination Committee within the Romanian Ministry of Health told MEDIAFAX Wednesday that tests on the blood collected from the young man in quarantine came back negative and so far there have been no swine flu suspicions confirmed in Romania.

The young man returning from Italy had been placed in quarantine at the Infectious Diseases Hospital in central Romanian city Ploiesti, since his symptoms resembled those of the swine flu and given the fact he had returned, less than seven days before, from Italy, a country where there have been swine flu cases registered.

The new influenza virus AH1N1, discovered recently, has been found to contain genes from pig, bird and human influenza viruses, in a combination that has never been observed before anywhere in the world. The flu spreads from person to person, the same way as regular flu, and the illness was very serious in a wide number of cases in Mexico.

Symptoms of novel influenza AH1N1 in humans are similar to regular human seasonal influenza symptoms, involving fever of sudden onset and respiratory symptoms; diarrhea might also occur.