Costa Rica en grave peligro: It rises to 159 suspected cases of influenza in Costa Rica

It rises to 159 suspected cases of influenza in Costa Rica

San Jose .- The health authorities of Costa Rica reported today that so far there have been 159 suspected cases of influenza AH1N1 in the country, but that "most" have been discarded and only two have been verified.

The Costa Rican health authorities believe they have enough inventory to deal with influenza at least 35,000 doses of antiviral drugs, which will not be sold.

The vice minister of Health, Ana Morice, told a local radio station that local laboratories have studied a total of 159 patient samples, but did not specify the exact figure has given negative results.

An official of the Directorate for Surveillance of the Ministry of Health, María Trejos, Efe previously confirmed that 26 cases had already been discarded, but this figure could rise in the coming hours.

Morice said that most of the suspected cases are located in the metropolitan area, where over 50 percent of the Costa Rican population, but have also analyzed samples from coastal areas in the Pacific.

The local press also reported that a private school in San Jose decided to close its doors at least a week after a student present a picture of strong flu, so they alerted the authorities about it.

An official of the National Committee on Pandemic Influenza, Hilda Salazar, told Efe that the Ministry of Health is investigating the case and the school to confirm if indeed any of the children had contracted the virus.

The authorities also noted that there is increased surveillance at ports and airports since the World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday raised to stage 5 on a scale of 6, warning of a pandemic.

The only two confirmed cases of influenza AH1N1 in Costa Rica are a couple of 21 years and a man of 29, two Costa Ricans, who returned to different flights last weekend from Mexico, where the main focus of the disease .

At present, both are in their homes and out of danger, while the authorities await the final results after submitting the samples to a laboratory in United States.

Although the Costa Rican government on Tuesday declared a national health emergency at the moment is no longer able to cancel flights to and from Mexico, and efforts are focused on strengthening surveillance and that the extreme measures people personal hygiene.

Nor has recommended the use of masks, which has not prevented the free products that have skyrocketed in recent days, like the common flu vaccines, which do not take effect before the flu AH1N1 .

Masks are mandatory for use only for airport personnel and hospitals.