|
Uganda, Kenya on alert as First swine flue cases are reported
With a confirmed case of swine flu in Kenya and another suspected case in Uganda, the region is in a panicky state over the HIH2 flu strain which has claimed over 300 hundred lives worldwide. The two cases bring the number of reported cases to four on the African continent.
On Monday, Kenya confirmed it's the first case of the deadly influenza causing fear across the region. The Kenyan case was followed on Tuesday with a suspected case in Uganda when a woman who arrived at Entebbe airport from South Africa was rushed to a local Hospital after exhibiting some of the symptoms of the deadly Swine Flu.
The woman a Ugandan National would be the first case in the region of an African native. The Kenyan case is of A British national who arrived in Kenya late last week and travelled to Kisumu where he was diagnosed and confirmed to have the virus. The Uganda lady had spent six months in South Africa.
Earlier this week the WHO was slated to hold an emergency meeting of experts to discuss the spreading virus in a sign the UN agency may be poised to declare the first pandemic in more than 40 years.
Last week, the World Health Organization was expected to declare a global influenza pandemic after a spike in H1N1 cases in Australia.
Five people had been admitted to intensive care and 1,263 cases of "swine flu" recorded in Australia.
There have been 27,737 cases reported in 74 countries to date, including about 300 deaths, according to the WHO's latest tally.
Confirmed community spread in a second region beyond North America would trigger moving to phase 6 -- signifying a full-blown pandemic -- from the current phase 5 on the WHO's 6-level pandemic alert scale.
The British born student in Kenya, who was in group of 34 British students, arrived in Kenya via Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on June 21. On arrival, the student and his colleagues, later travelled by bus to Kisumu where they are undertaking field studies.
"Two days later on arrival in Kisumu, the medical student developed a headache and joint pains where his samples were taken at a local facility before they were flown to Nairobi for testing on Sunday," Mrs Mugo, the Kenyan health minister said.
Public Health and Sanitation ministry officials had quarantined the group of British students who are staying in a Kisumu hotel.
|
