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Iraq confirms first cases of H1N1 virus
by Neka Sehgal - June 25, 2009 - comments
Iraqi health officials confirmed yesterday that six women who recently returned from the United States have tested positive for H1N1, making them the first lab confirmed cases in the country
Baghdad, June 25: According to Iraq's Health Ministry, the country's first cases of the H1N1 virus are seven members of the women’s national basketball team who returned to the country last week after a visit to the United States.
According to health officials, the squad had been playing in a championship tournament in Chicago and returned to Iraq on June 20.
Six women of national basketball team infected
The health ministry stated that six of the team members were undergoing treatment in Iraqi hospitals.
"Today, six cases of this epidemic flu, H1N1, have been diagnosed in our ministry's central lab," Health Minister Saleh Al-Hasnawi told a news conference.
The seventh player displayed the initial symptoms of the disease when the team was passing through Jordan on their way back to the country. The player was detained in Jordan and is getting medical intervention in a hospital there.
The Iraq health ministry stated that all the patients were under close observation and were in stable condition.
Al-Hasnawi also disclosed that one member of the United States led multinational military force in Iraq had been confirmed Wednesday as having the H1N1 virus. However, he refrained from giving any further details regarding the case.
Update on the H1N1 virus worldwide
The H1N1 virus continues to rage across the world, effecting 100 countries since late March.
Earlier this month, the World Health Organization, (WHO) declared a pandemic for the first time in more than 40 years, advising all governments to be alert.
According to the WHO, nearly 56,000 cases of swine flu infection have been confirmed globally with 238 deaths.
The United States has seen dramatic increases in infected cases. There were 3,594 new cases taking the nation’s total to 21,449 with 87 deaths. Mexico had 7,600 cases with 115 people succumbing to the disease.
In Europe, the worst hit county remains Britain. The country recorded 754 fresh cases, taking its total to 2,506, including one death.
Other countries reporting first cases of the virus to the WHO include Antigua and Barbuda (2 cases), Cambodia (1), Cape Verde (3), Cote d'Ivoire (2), and Vanuatu (1).
The WHO cautioned that the figures recorded may not be reliable because some countries were no longer keeping count of the cases, while some of the poor countries did not have the necessary facilities to detect the influenza cases.