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Benin - Confirmed first positive case

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  • Benin - Confirmed first positive case

    Swine flu: Benin announces suspected case of swine flu

    Benin - The Benin Public Health minister, Mr. Issifou Takpara, on Friday announced that health officials have found a suspected victim of the swine flu with a virus of A H1N1 type.

    He said the 25-year-old woman, who was diagnosed on 27 April, had returned to Be nin from Mexico one week earlier.

    The victim, Mr. Takpara said, had flu symptoms similar to the description of the World Health Organisation (WHO), adding that investigations were ongoing to confirm the case. Three other persons who had had direct contact with the victim were being observed, he added.

    To date, the patient and the other persons who had been in contact with her were responding to treatment, the minister said, and reassured the nation and the international community that measures had been taken to contain the situation.

    A senior health official, Dr Christophe Monsia, indicated that the virus of the new flu A H1N1 was not of ?swine? origin, explaining that this qualification was exaggerated from the scientific point of view, as no clinical case of original ? swine? flu had been established.

    He said the case discovered in Benin was yet to be confirmed by different biomed ical analyses and investigations were ongoing. He urged those who work in the piggery sector to continue their activities while taking the usual elementary precautions.

    He also said pork and pork products should be cooked properly before consumption.

    WHO defines as suspect case ?any individual with high fever (temperature equal or higher than 38?5C) with flu symptoms (cough, sneezing, fatigue, headaches, nasal discharge) associated or not to a respiratory infection, in a context of recent travel or contact with a traveller in an endemic country.?

    The outbreak of the current swine flu was first recorded in Mexico and has spread to some 10 countries. The disease has claimed at least 100 lives in Mexico.

    Cotonou - 02/05/2009


  • #2
    Re: Benin - Confirmed first positive case

    Benin Confirms Africa's Second Suspected Swine-Flu Case
    Zaterdag 02 Mei 2009

    COTONOU (AFP)--Benin became Saturday the second African country to report a suspected case of swine flu as the health minister said a European woman may have contracted the virus during a trip in Mexico.

    'She spent time in Mexico in April and came back here on the 20th of last month,' Health Minister Issifou Takpara told AFP.

    'When she was admitted to hospital she presented flulike symptoms matching those described by the World Health Organization,' Takpara said.

    He refused to release the woman's nationality.

    'As well as this woman, we have isolated three other people who were in contact with her. We immediately sent samples to the WHO laboratory, and we expect results by the beginning of next week,' Takpara added.

    All four people are receiving treatment and are for the moment doing well, he said.

    South Africa reported two suspected cases of influenza A(H1N1) on Wednesday, the first in the continent. One case tested negative while results are pending for the second person, who has been cured.

    The two had recently returned from Mexico, the epicenter of the swine flu outbreak, where 16 people have been confirmed dead from the virus.

    Click here to go to Dow Jones NewsPlus, a web front page of today's most important business and market news, analysis and commentary: http://www.djnewsplus.com/access/al?...47rCWkYg%3D%3D. You can use this link on the day this article is published and the following day.

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