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Additional Details on Panama's First Case of Swine Flu (He came from the U.S.)

Additional Details on Panama's First Case of Swine Flu

http://www.panama-guide.com/article.php/20090508130354126

Friday, May 08 2009 at 01:03 PM EDT
Contributed by: Don Winner
Views: 198
Healthcare

By DON WINNER for Panama-Guide.com - This morning Panama's Health Minister, Rosario Turner, said in a press conference health authorities have detected the first confirmed case of Swine Flu, influenza type A H1N1, in a 20 year-old Panamanian male. The patient recently returned to Panama from the United States and presented symptoms consistent with the disease shortly after arriving. Health authorities did not release any additional details about the case, such as the specific date when the patient arrived in Panama or his flight information (airline or flight number.) At this point the patient is in stable condition, and remains in self-imposed quarantine in his home, and is undergoing continuing medical care. Dr. Nelson Sossa, the Director of the Gorgas Commemorative Institute, confirmed this morning the test results came back on a young Panamanian man who had traveled to the United States and returned to Panama fourteen days ago. Laboratory tests confirm this person is, in fact, infected with the Swine Flu H1N1 virus. (more)

Maintain Bio Security Practices: Dr. Sossa emphasized the importance of adequate and appropriate bio-security practices. He said that if anyone has flu-like symptoms they should first stay at home and not go to school or work. People should practice proper hygiene such as covering their mouth when coughing or sneezing, the use of disposable Kleenex, as well as the importance of hand washing and the use of alcohol based hand sanitizers. And most importantly, if you are sick and suspect you might be infected with Swine Flu, you should go to see your doctor. In addition, he said Panama has a comprehensive plan to respond to this kind of a situation, and they are executing their plan. Dr. Sossa said they are consistently processing samples taken from patients suspected of having the Swine Flu virus, and those results come out every day. He said they can process a sample in less than 24 hours from the time it arrives at their facilities.

Details On The Patient: Dr. Gladys Guerrero, the Chief of Epidemiology of Panama's Ministry of Health, said the first patient confirmed to be infected with Swine Flu is a 20 year-old Panamanian man who returned to Panama from the United States fourteen days ago. He started to develop flu-like symptoms shortly after having arrived in Panama. She said health authorities in Panama just received the confirmed test results from the Gorgas Commemorative Institute this morning, and they immediately announced those results to the public.

She said they are now in the process of conducting more in depth interviews with the patient, to confirm where he has been in the past fourteen days. She said they would be conducting tests on this close friends and family members, as well as the health care officials who have been treating and attending the patient, to see if any of them have been infected. She also said close family members with whom the patient had contact are now receiving prophylactic treatment with the appropriate anti-viral medications.

At this point the patient is at home under a self-imposed quarantine and is undergoing treatment with anti viral medicines. She said he still is presenting some upper respiratory symptoms but his condition is stable and none of the symptoms are life threatening. She said, in addition, there is a group of seven addition patients in quarantine in the Santo Tomas hospital that they continue to evaluate who are presenting flu-like symptoms who in addition have traveled recently, and they are conducting tests to see if any of them have been infected.

By sloopskipper on May 8, 2009, 14:31 in Off Topic.