Romanian Swine Flu Suspects Are Woman, Baby, Not Young Man

Local public health department head, Mihai Tarcus, who said earlier Thursday that a young man from Sambateni was a possible swine flu patient, corrected his statement and said the suspected people are a woman and her 18 month-old boy.

"They’re state of health is evolving and we have no reason to believe the swine flu virus will be confirmed in their case,” Tarcus said.

Blood samples have been sent to Bucharest for analysis, because the mother and child had travelled to Portugal and Spain, where likely cases of swine flu have been reported.

The "Cantacuzino" Institute in Bucharest will not analyze the situation in Arad because the patients involved don’t come from areas with confirmed cases of the illness, Health Ministry official Adrian Streinu Cercel said Thursday.

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday said it raised its level of swine flu pandemic alert from phase 4 to 5, one step short of a full-scale pandemic.

Nine infectious diseases hospitals in Romania's capital city Bucharest and towns countrywide received antiviral medicines for swine flu prevention. Antiviral medicines were provided to "Matei Bals" Institute for Infectious Diseases and "Victor Babes" hospital in Bucharest, as well as the infectious diseases units of hospitals located in Craiova, Timisoara, Cluj, Brasov, Constanta, Iasi and Targu-Mures.

Doctors urged Romanian citizens who returned from swine flu-hit areas to go to an infectious diseases hospital as soon as possible in case of flu-like symptoms.

 

If you liked this story, please follow MEDIAFAX.RO on FACEBOOK »

The content of mediafax.ro is for your information only. Republishing or using this content is forbidden without express consent of MEDIAFAX. For this consent, please ask for it by mail at vanzari@mediafax.ro.