Now in Poland
Poland joins the 23 other countries in which ’swine’ flu triggered by the AH1N1 virus has been detected. So far 1,658 people in the world have come down with swine flu. The infected woman, who is in hospital in Mielec, is feeling well. If it were not for the fact that a few days before reporting sick she returned from the USA, she would not be hospitalised. “We are obeying our anti-epidemic rules, therefore we sent samples to Warsaw where the sanitary epidemiological service confirmed the AH1N1 virus in the patient,” says Aneta Dyka-Urbańska, the hospital spokesman. “Doctors followed the elaborated pandemic plan. There is no reason for panic,” says the Minister of Health Ewa Kopacz.
The first confirmed case of the new flu virus in Poland has put the sanitary epidemiological services on their feet. We have already established the names of the 170 passengers and the 9 crew members from the plane in which the woman was flying from the USA on 2 May. Epidemiologists claim that during the flight the woman had no flu symptoms, since the sneezing and cold developed afterwards. “It is unlikely to get worse under such circumstances,” says Andrzej Horban, the national consultant for infectious diseases. Also, reports from other countries seem to be increasingly reassuring, as there are relatively fewer new flu cases triggered by the AH1N1 virus. It is already known that the disease is not as serious as it was thought. “The disease is comparable to seasonal flu. It is just as well that the new virus is not as lethal, although it spreads easily,” highlights Jacek Wysocki, the vice-chancellor of Poznań University of Medical Sciences.
Rzeczpospolita
