Ethiopian Review

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia — More people have been quarantined due to being suspected of contracting swine flu, following the six Ethiopians who were quarantined and treated for the disease at St. Paul’s Hospital last week.

According to doctors at the hospital, the nurse who examines suspects at Bole International Airport has been quarantined for a short period of time and released this week after getting the proper treatment.

Another flight stewardess from Ethiopian Airlines, joined those quarantined at the hospital on Friday June 26, after she was suspected of having the flu.

Last week, two boys that were abroad for exchange studies were treated for the flu after they are found to be positive. The patients were checked at Bole International Airport arriving from abroad.
The boys, along with the other three patients, were quarantined at the centre last week and released at the beginning of this week.

At the time of going to print, only one suspect is still being kept at the hospital, which was specially prepared for swine flu cases.

As of June, 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared swine flu a pandemic.
The Ministry of Health recently announced after the outbreak of the flu that it has selected 30 hospitals in the country to distribute the medicine in case the new influenza crosses the border.
Ethiopia imported Tamiflu, a medicine that can be used for flu treatment and flu prevention. The imported medicine is worth three million dollars and is expected to treat 100, 820 people, according to health officials.

The Ministry has also imported a remote sensor, which enables it to easily detect people infected with the new influenza while entering the country.

South Africa was the first country in Africa to announce the contraction of the flu.

Although the source of the outbreak in humans is still unknown, cases were first discovered in the US and officials soon suspected a link between those incidents and an earlier outbreak of late-season flu cases in Mexico.

More than 70 countries have reported roughly 39,620 cases of swine flu worldwide with 167 deaths, according to the World Health Organization.

US health authorities have also estimated swine flu cases to hit a million mark by the end of next week.

- By Groum Abate | Capital Ethiopia