Swine flu hits Israel
Photo: AP
4th case of swine flu detected
Meanwhile, case of suspected swine flu in 3-year old leads to closing of Jerusalem nursery school
A 20-year old from Holon was diagnosed with swine flu Sunday after having been admitted to Ichilov Medical Center in Tel Aviv on Saturday. She has recently returned from Mexico, and arrived at the hospital suffering from flu symptoms.
Another case of suspected swine flu also popped up in Israel Sunday as a three-year old girl from Jerusalem was isolated and the nursery school she attends was temporarily shut down.
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Associated Press
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The child returned from Mexico on April 27, prior to the opening of Ben Gurion International Airport's emergency medical clinic, so she was not examined upon arrival.
She attended the Jerusalem nursery school as usual immediately after her return to Israel, along with four additional children.
The girl has been admitted to Jerusalem's Shaare Tzedek Medical Center due to her symptoms, which led doctors to believe she may have the H1N1 virus currently stirring panic in the world.
The child is the fifth Israeli to have been suspected of carrying the virus in the past few days. So far four Israelis have been diagnosed with the disease.
Mexico's government announced Sunday that the flu outbreak appeared to be easing with a fall in serious cases, but world health officials warned the unpredictable virus could still become a pandemic.
In Geneva, the World Health Organization said the H1N1 influenza had not spread in a sustained way outside North America, as required before the pandemic alert is raised to its highest level. But it said that would probably happen soon.
The WHO said its laboratories had identified a total of 787 H1N1 flu infections in 17 countries, including one case in Ireland, and said there were 19 confirmed deaths in Mexico. The United States, the second hardest-hit nation, has confirmed 160 cases in 21 states.
WHO hiked its alert level to 5 from 3 last week – the last step before a pandemic – due to the flu's spread and the threat it could target poor and disease-prone communities.
