No swine flu yet, but Israel on alert

[IndianaGreen]

The last thing this region needed, a pandemic.

Last update - 02:33 27/04/2009

No swine flu yet, but Israel on alert

By Ran Reznick, Anshel Pfeffer, Zohar Blumenkrantz and Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondents

As one person was quarantined for suspected swine flu on Sunday, Israel began to take measures to combat a potential outbreak of the disease, which has already struck across two continents.

Magen David Adom representatives said on Sunday they would not take blood donations from individuals who had visited Mexico, California or Texas in the past week.

Health Ministry Director-General Professor Avi Israeli on Sunday issued directives to health care institutions, which he described as "temporary instructions intended to be on the side of caution until we learn more details."

According to the ministry's instructions, a patient may be considered a potential carrier of the swine flu virus if his or her breathing system becomes compromised without apparent reason and the patient shows symptoms such as respiratory malfunction, high fever, congestion, throat pain, coughing or shortness of breath.

In addition the patient, in order to be considered a potential carrier, must have visited Mexico in the week before falling ill or have been in close contact with someone who had visited the country, or been in contact with an individual who had treated somebody with the virus. The instructions also require anyone meeting these criteria to report for medical treatment immediately.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1081434.html