WATANI International
14 June 2009
Georgette Sadeq
Until the end of May Health Minister Hatem al-Gabaly assured that no cases of H1N1 virus had appeared in Egypt. But June came in with eight cases of H1N1.
The first case found was a 12-year-old girl who arrived to Cairo from the United States with her Egyptian American mother on 1 June. The temperature scan at Cairo Airport revealed that the girl was feverish; she was instantly moved to the Fever Hospital in Abbasiya where she was diagnosed with H1N1. Doctors and nurses from the Health Ministry paid home visits to all 145 passengers who had been on the same flight; they were all checked and monitored but none, including the girl’s mother, was found to have contracted the virus.
A week later the Health Ministry announced that several cases of H1N1 were detected at the Zamalek student hostel of the American University in Cairo (AUC). They had arrived from separate US destinations, on separate flights, to attend an exchange summer programme. The Zamalek dormitory was quarantined and all its inmates tested for the virus. AUC suspended classes for a week.
Until Watani went to press 12 cases of the virus had been discovered in Cairo and Alexandria. Two hospitals in Cairo, the Fevers at Abbassiya and the Manshiyat al-Bakry were assigned to treat H1N1 cases. Because of seven-day incubation period of the virus, a spokesman for the Heath Ministry said, it is not possible to discover all cases that may be coming in through the airport. But even so, all 33 land, sea, or air gateways into Egypt have been fitted with temperature scanners.
With H1N1 now pandemic, the Health Ministry is working closely with the World Health Organisation and has set up an emergency operations room to deal with matters as they come. The hotline 105 can be contacted for any queries, or to report suspected cases.
The virus is as yet mild and treatable but it is feared that, during the coming autumn and winter months, the virus would mutate into a more harmful one. There is also the possibility of the virus interacting with the bird flu virus, which is now endemic in Egypt, and mutating into a lethal one.