Swine Flu in Tanzania

Agence France reports:

Tanzanian officials said Wednesday that a 17-year-old British student who was hospitalised earlier this month has been confirmed as the east African country's first case of swine flu.

Andrew Swai, director of clinical services at the country's main referral hospital in the capital Dar es Salaam, said the teenager was among a group of 15 students and teachers who flew in from Britain via Kenya on July 2 to carry out volunteer work.

"The victim has undergone a first diagnostic test and it was positive" for A(H1N1), he told AFP. "No need for panic this is just a single case and we know how it came about."

Swai added there was no cause for alarm over the patient's condition.

The government's chief medical officer Deo Mutasiwa said Tanzania was well prepared for an epidemic, that stocks of Tamiflu were satisfactory and that doses had recently been sent out to the touristic island of Zanzibar.

The Daily News also quotes Dr. Swai reassuring the country that the government was taking all the necessary precautions to contain the situation:

He said that the government would distribute more PPE at all port of entry, facilitate the production of health declaration forms and strengthen patient management and care. However, Dr Swai said that there was no cause for panic, giving assurances that everything was under control and that the disease would not spread beyond Tanzania borders.