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).
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