Issue Post - Uganda Confirms First Swine Flu Case

Uganda Confirms First Swine Flu Case

Thursday, July 2 2009

Uganda's Health Ministry says the country has confirmed its first case of H1N1 swine flu.

Ugandan health official James Kakooza said Thursday that a 40-year-old British man tested positive for the virus after arriving in Entebbe on June 26.

Kakooza said the man came from London through Nairobi, Kenya.

Uganda is the seventh sub-Saharan nation to report swine flu cases - along with Kenya, Cape Verde, Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, Mauritius, and South Africa.

The World Health Organization said that as of Wednesday, 332 people have died from the swine flu virus, and more than 77,000 people have been diagnosed worldwide.

In June, the WHO declared an influenza pandemic for the first time in more than 40 years.

The H1N1 strain of swine flu is a highly contagious new virus that quickly spread around the world this year.

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