【TurkishPress】First Swine Flu Case Detected In Turkey

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First Swine Flu Case Detected In Turkey
http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=343550
Published: 5/16/2009

ANKARA - Swine flu has been detected on a passenger, who arrived in Istanbul from USA to transfer a flight to Iraq, officials said on Saturday.

The passenger first travelled from USA to Amsterdam, then transferred to a flight to Istanbul from the Dutch capital and was planning to proceed to Iraq, a written statement from the Turkish Health Ministry said early on Saturday.


Thermal cameras at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport detected that the passenger had high fever and tests run by national flu laboratories proved that the passenger was carrying the "Influenza A/H1N1" virus, the statement said.


Holding a press conference on the incident in Istanbul, Turkish Health Minister Recep Akdag said that the passenger was a U.S. citizen and was immediately isolated before contacting any other individuals at the airport.


Akdag said that the passenger was currently under treatment and the ministry had taken all the necessary precautions on the matter. Samples were taken from the passenger's family and they were being checked for the virus as well, Akdag said.


Minister Akdag also said that officials had the list of people who travelled on the same plane with the infected passenger and probable contacts were being investigated at the moment.


Akdag said that there were a total of 163 travellers on the infected passenger's plane and 96 of them stayed in Istanbul after land-off. (DO-AY)