News on influenza A(H1N1)
12.06.2009
Fourth influenza case confirmed and the first in-country transmission in Iceland
The fourth case of influenza A(H1N1) has now been diagnosed in Iceland. The person involved is a middle-aged woman and there are strong indications that she caught the disease from a couple arriving from the US on 3 June, who were diagnosed with the disease. This last case can therefore be traced to in-country transmission, while the first three cases diagnosed so far were all infected in the US and fell ill after arriving in Iceland.
The situation was discussed at a meeting this morning by the Chief Epidemiologist and staff members representing the Civil Protection Department of the National Commissioner of the Icelandic Police, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Justice. In view of the fact that the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared an influenza pandemic and as a consequence raised the level of alert from phase 5 to phase 6, the same level of alert naturally applies in Iceland.
In spite of this, it was decided to continue to work according to the present alert phase of the preparedness plan here in Iceland, since the disease has usually been mild, both abroad and in Iceland. This is in accordance with the understanding of the WHO.
- ECDC reports today that 27.689 cases of influenza A(H1N1) have now been confirmed in the world, 1.565 of these are reported in EU/EFTA countries.
- Deaths from influenza A(H1N1) are now 144, of which 108 have occurred in Mexico and 27 in the US and 4 in Canada.
Further web-site information
Notices concerning influenza preparedness in Iceland will continue to be issued on www.influensa.is, in both Icelandic and English.
For more details on influenza A(H1N1) in EU/EFTA countries: http://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/
For more on the world situation see also: http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/en/index.html
Chief Epidemiologist for Iceland
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