Iraq Reports First Cases Of H1N1 Swine Flu

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Main Category: Swine Flu
Also Included In: Flu / Cold / SARS;  Public Health
Article Date: 25 Jun 2009 - 0:00 PDT

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Iraqi health authorities confirmed yesterday that six people recently returned from the US have tested positive for H1N1 epidemic or swine flu, making this the first lab confirmed cases in the country.

Iraq's Health Minister Saleh Al-Hasnawi told a news conference reported by Reuters that:

"Today, six cases of this epidemic flu, H1N1, have been diagnosed in our ministry's central lab."

The six female patients, all members of the Iraqi women's national basketball team had been competing in Chicago, US, and flew back on 20 June. A seventh member of the team is also infected but this was discovered in neighbouring Jordan, where the team stopped on their return to Iraq, so she is being treated there.

The health minister mentioned another confirmed case of swine flu in a member of the US military-led multinational force but gave no further details other than the case had been confirmed on Wednesday.

Iraq does not yet feature on the latest swine flu global update from the World Health Organization which as of yesterday morning, 24 June, reported 55,867 global confirmed cases of novel H1N1 swine flu including 238 deaths.

The United States continues to dominate the WHO figures, with 21,449 total confirmed cases, including 87 deaths.

Other countries reporting first cases of H1N1infection to the WHO include Antigua and Barbuda (2 cases), Cambodia (1), Cape Verde (3), Cote d'Ivoire (2), and Vanuatu (1).

Meanwhile, as cases in the southern hemisphere climb steadily, as expected since countries in this half of the world are now in their winter months when seasonal flu is also at its highest, the situation in the northern hemisphere does not appear to be easing off, despite it now being summer when the seasonal flu recedes.

In the UK for instance, according to figures from the NHS yesterday, the total number of lab confirmed cases of H1N1 swine flu has now passed 3,200, with 306 new cases in England and 3 in Wales.

Testing has now confirmed that a Scottish mother who died earlier this month after giving birth, and who also had underlying health conditions, died of multiple organ failure brought on by the novel H1N1 virus, said the NHS.

So far, only a very small minority of cases of H1N1 infection become severe, and the real numbers of cases are probably considerably higher than those reported in the official statistics because experts suggest many people are not reporting the symptoms.

However, a recent Reuters report from Germany on Tuesday suggests this situation might change because scientists there say there are signs the H1N1 swine flu virus is mutating and could start spreading in a more aggressive form.

Joerg Hacker, head of the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases told the media that they were concerned about how the virus was developing in Australia and South America.

"It's possible the virus has mutated. In autumn the mutated form could spread to the northern hemisphere and back to Germany," he told a press conference in Berlin.

The WHO figures show that Germany has the third highest rate of H1N1 swine flu infection in Europe with 301 confirmed cases.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters that Germany was as ready as it could be should the infection rate begin to surge. They were maintaining international contact and:

"Now all we have to do is coordinate internationally who should be vaccinated and how we should do it, in case things get worse," said Merkel.

Sources: Reuters, WHO, NHS.

Written by: Catharine Paddock, PhD
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today