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Hungary declares flu epidemic |
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Wednesday, 18 November 2009 |
Hungarian health authorities declared a flu epidemic on Wednesday, saying the number of patients reporting flu symptoms to doctors had reached 22,100 last week.
The number of patients reporting flu symptoms increased by 30 percent over the past week, said Agnes Csohan, a senior official at the National Epidemiology Centre.
The threshold for declaring an epidemic in Hungary is a weekly 20,000 cases.
Ferenc Falus, Hungary's chief medical officer said that out of 340 samples taken last week, 115 had tested positive for the H1N1 virus. So far, seven people have died of the new flu infection. Falus said that an estimated total of 30,000 people might have contracted the virus.
Over the past week, 11 nurseries and 24 schools have seen a mass outbreak of flu, including cases of new flu. Most are located in central Hungary. So far five have temporarily closed. The number of flu patients being treated in hospitals has risen to 172 compared to 86 the previous week, 15 requiring intensive care.
On Wednesday, a Catholic primary school was closed in Papa (W), and another may face temporary closure in Szarvas (SW), as over one third of its 350 pupils reported ill.
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