EGYPT: Swine flu at American University in Cairo

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The Egyptian Health Ministry this week confirmed five new cases of H1N1 flu, or swine flu, among students and a staff member at American University in Cairo.

The cases were discovered after a screening of 234 campus residents. Three of the the five people infected had recently arrived from San Diego, New York and Tanzania. Previously, the virus was detected in two students living in a university dormitory in Cairo’s Zamalek neighborhood. Egyptian health officials have ordered a quarantine of the dormitory until June 15.

‘We have great sympathy for all of the people who are being confined to the dormitory. It is not a place you would like to be shut in for a week at a time,’ university President David D. Arnold said at a news conference. ‘We are carrying out sample testing on students at the university’s other campuses to determine if the virus has spread beyond the dorm.’

In a statement, the university said that the people in the latest cases of H1N1 ‘have not exhibited any symptoms of the flu.... The two students originally diagnosed with the flu have recovered and are expected to be released within the next few days.’

The first H1N1 case in Egypt was confirmed last week when a 12-year-old American-Egyptian girl tested positive for the virus at Cairo International Airport upon her return from Europe. The girl was taken to a hospital and later recovered.

According to the Egyptian health quarantine report, passengers who have entered Egypt on more than 4,700 airplanes and 408 ships have been tested for the H1N1 virus. Egyptian authorities had earlier been criticized for overreacting to the virus threat last month when the government slaughtered the nation’s 300,000 pigs.

-- Amro Hassan in Cairo