Wave of Swine Flu Cases Hits Serbia

A new wave of H1N1 cases has been reported in Serbia.

Three children from the town of Cacak and two people from the town of Kraljevo have tested positive for the virus, as have two Belgrade residents and three students at the Belgrade Military High School.

Branislav Tiodorovic, from the Health Ministry’s working group for pandemics, has confirmed that three children from the second grade of Cacak's Milica Pavlovic elementary school have the virus. The Institute for Health Protection confirmed that it has provided the school with detailed instructions regarding the measures that should be undertaken.

Broadcaster B92 reports that the Belgrade Military High School students that came down with the virus have been quarantined.

Civilian authorities cannot give out any information regarding the suspected swine flu cases at the military school before the military authorities officially confirm them. Defence officials said they would address the outbreak at the school on Friday.

The Serbian ministry has recorded over 130 cases of H1N1 so far and the first fatality from the H1N1 virus. When the first fatality occured, Tiodorovic said that there was no need for panic but stressed that the situation should be taken seriously.

The WHO reported that 340,000 cases of swine flu had been confirmed worldwide and 4,100 people had died from the virus as of September 27. The organisation recently announced that the virus will spread quickly in coming months, infecting large numbers of people.

In an interview with Beta news agency, Health Minister Tomica Milosavljevic said recently that the country is still waiting in line to buy the H1N1 vaccine, but has hastily purchased respirators to equip as many intensive care units as possible.

"The risk of a pandemic is very great," the agency quoted Milosavljevic as saying.

For more information, please see Balkan Insight's "Timeline: Swine Flu
in the Balkans".