Azerbaijan has confirmed only 'imported' 'swine flu' cases: Health Ministry official

Day.Az: Is the ‘swine flu’ likely to become wide spread in Azerbaijan?

Svetlana Zmitrovic: We are doing everything possible to prevent the spread of the disease. All patients who have been infected in Ukraine have been currently hospitalized and all necessary arrangements are carried out in all places including their homes. They are under control. At present, we have three confirmed cases – a woman who came from Ukraine, one of her relatives who caught the disease from her and another man, also came from Ukraine.

Q: What can cause mass spread of A(H1/N1) in Azerbaijan?

A: Of course, we will prevent it from happening. Today there are only cases of spread of ordinary flu epidemic in the country. Changing weather conditions, contacts between people in public locations and airborne droplets are major reason behind it.  ‘Swine flu’ has not yet appeared in Azerbaijan on its own. All cases have been ‘imported.’

Of course, the threat of ‘swine flu' is not ruled out in case it is ‘imported’ to the country one more time. This infection is also spread by airborne droplets. But the most common for us today is the spread of epidemic influenza. All ‘swine flu’ suspects are immediately admitted to our institutions and examined and blood tests are studied in laboratories. When the analysis shows that it is a usual influenza, these people are taken under control in hospitals in their community. Now people need to be cautious in contacting each other primarily because of threat of spread of seasonal influenza.

Q: To what extent the mass spread of ‘swine flu’ is likely given the situation in neighboring Russia and Georgia?

A: It may occur once there is unregistered ‘imported’ cases. We already have a few ‘imported cases’ and we are successfully preventing them. I can not predict anything as we have not yet seen mass ‘import’ of the disease. We react in time and correctly. We had a timely hospitalization and treatment. No spread happened.

Q: Then what form of influenza people catch in western Ukraine? According to reports, it is not a ‘swine flu’. Could such a virus unexpectedly be found in Azerbaijan, too?

A: The situation in Ukraine is difficult to understand. Some foreign publications write that the figures for the infected and dead do not reflect reality. Generally speaking, people may die from ordinary seasonal flu, too. So, it is impossible to blame ‘swine flu’ for everything. Regular flu often causes deaths among older people, children whose illness is accompanied by complications. But deaths from epidemic influenza have not been confirmed in Azerbaijan yet.

The data that Ukraine releases does not provide clear guidance on number of deaths from a particular type of flu. For example, the World Health Organization indicates that 445,000 people worldwide have been  infected with swine flu from April to October with 5,000 confirmed fatal cases. But this figure indicates death toll worldwide! So, without official WHO' figures we can not know what's happening in Ukraine, how many people are infected and what form of influenza it is.

Q: What about the situation with medicament against ‘swine flu’ in Azerbaijan?

A: The Pulmonology Institute has been supplied with all treatment means well known in the world, in particular Tamiflu, by WHO.  It is good for prevention, that is, for those people who came into contact with ‘swine flu' infected people. The people would better to turned to their doctors in their clinics if they feel suspicious symptoms. Then it will be easier to register, isolate and treat them.

We will start to vaccination against ‘swine flu’ in late November. The doctors will be vaccinated first of of all.The vaccines will be provided by WHO. Different layers of the population will be vaccinated gradually. Not all people will be vaccinated, of course. The Health Ministry will oversee the situation.

Day.Az