The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)
10 July 2009
The Government yesterday appealed for calm following the detection of the country's first swine flu (H1N1) infection case, with Deputy Health minister Aisha Kigoda, saying there was no cause for alarm, "as everything is under control".
However, health authorities stepped up surveillance at all the major airports and border crossing points, where travellers arriving from neighbouring countries and overseas were screened of any suspected symptoms of the disease.
Dr Kigoda had rushed to Dar es Salaam from Dodoma, where she has been attending the Budget session in Parliament, and addressed a press conference before visiting a 17-year-old British student isolated in a special ward at the Muhimbili National Hospital.
Reports that the teenager had tested positive shortly after arriving in the country in an18-member group from London through Nairobi, on Wednesday, had sparked panic in the city.
The World Health Organisation has so far confirmed 429 deaths from the flu worldwide and nearly 95,000 infections since the disease was first reported in Mexico in March.
The patient was among 15 students and four teachers from the United Kingdom, who have come to Tanzania on a month-long volunteer work tour. Another 331 Britons are expected to come later for the same programme.
But speaking at Muhimbili yesterday, Dr Kigoda and the hospital's executive director, Prof Leonard Lema, said the patient was responding well to treatment and was well on the way to recovery.
The deputy minister praised the medical personnel for handling the case with utmost care and professionalism to prevent the spread of infection. Tests on the other students yielded negative results.
Speaking from his hospital bed, the British teenager said he was grateful for the care he had received at the hospital and was looking forward to joining his colleagues on their mission.
"The situation is under control. The public need not worry too much because there is enough medication," said Prof Lema.
Dr Kigoda added: "There is no need for people to get alarmed. Nobody should get scared, as everything is under control, with our borders and all international airports under surveillance to ensure that the disease does not spread."
Earlier, at her press conference in her office, Dr Kigoda had advised the people to take basic precautions to avoid infection.
She told them to wash their hands with soap and use handkerchiefs, while blowing their noses in public. Rearing pigs or eating pork, Dr Kigoda said would not spread the disease, contrary to fears by uninformed people.
The deputy minister said anyone developing swine flu symptoms should immediately report to the nearest health facility for investigation. The symptoms include sore throat, and cough, running nose and fatigue, headache, diarrhoea and sometimes pneumonia.
People suffering from chronic lung, heart, kidney, and liver illnesses, diabetes and chronic neurological diseases, and those who have been treated for asthma within the past three years were said to be at increased risk.
The Government, she said, had directed public health officials to intensify sensitisation campaigns on the disease. Drugs received from the WHO had already been distributed and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) was being issued in high-disease prone areas, she said.
The Chief Medical Officer, Dr Deo Mutasiwa, appealed to the media to help educate the public on the swine flu threat. However, he said, people should not fear to mingle with others.
In Arusha Region, medical teams were deployed to the border areas to screen visitors on arrival. The regional medical officer, Dr Salash Toure, told The Citizen that the region was prepared to tackle any threat from Kenya and Uganda, where a total of 14 cases have been reported.
Medical teams were observing travellers on arrival at the Namanga border post and Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA), the main gateways for tourists visiting the northern region.
Swine flu awareness campaigns have been carried out in all the six districts in the region. The medical officer said special attention was being paid to tourists.
However, Dr Toure denied earlier reports that a tourist visiting Serengeti National Park had been found to have contracted swine flu.
Last week, the East African Community secretariat at Arusha called for extra-surveillance against swine influenza and urged all the five-member states to activate their surveillance networks and step up public health education on the epidemic. Besides Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, the other EAC partner states are Rwanda and Burundi.
Reported by Vicent Mnyanyika, Erick Mchome, Zephania Ubwani and Bernard James
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 The Citizen. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
