The case under investigation of possible swine flu virus, which was detected this Monday in Fuerteventura, remains in the Insular Hospital of Puerto del Rosario as a precaution due to suffering from "high" fever. However, the Minister of Health of the Government of the Canary Islands, Mercedes Roldós, indicated this morning in the capital of Gran Canaria that the patient is receiving treatment and "is doing well", that the difference he presents with respect to the other case under investigation, detected in Gran Canaria, is that "the fever is a little higher" and that in general the condition presented by the new flu is "mild".
Roldós said after the meeting of the Canary Health Council, the highest body for community participation in the Canary Health System, that it is normal to "take extreme precautions" at the beginning and that the Ministry is taking all the protocol measures dictated by the Ministry of Health.
One of these measures is to send all samples of possible cases of those affected by the H1N1 virus to the National Microbiology Center of Majadahonda, in Madrid, which is responsible for analyzing and confirming whether patients suffer from the new flu. Roldós explained that samples from the two potential cases that have appeared in the Canary Islands are already being investigated in this center, although the Minister regretted the delay with which they communicate the results of the tests.
The Minister detailed that on "several occasions" she has asked the Ministry for the results, because with the first of the cases that appeared in Gran Canaria, there is a delay of two days, since the conclusions are usually delivered after 48 hours. The affected person, a 28-year-old man, has been waiting at home for the diagnosis since April 30, following the "recommendation" of the Ministry of Health: to isolate himself and be cared for by only one person, both using masks.
In this sense, the Executive has notified the Ministry of the complaint about the delays, "which are also suffered by other autonomous communities", according to Roldós, who added that she suggested to the Minister of Health, Trinidad Jiménez, together with her counterparts from Catalonia and Valencia, to activate a network of public laboratories, "so that there is not a single analysis center" and thus speed up the results, given that other centers in Spain are capable of carrying out the relevant tests to determine whether a suspected case suffers from the new flu or not.
THE NEW FLU
The Ministry published yesterday that so far in Spain there are 63 cases under investigation, 113 discarded and 57 confirmed. Roldós confirmed this morning that so far in the Canary Islands no case has been confirmed, although there are two under investigation. The first of these was detected in a young man from Gran Canaria who had spent a few days in Mexico. The second one appeared yesterday in Fuerteventura, also a man who had visited the Central American country.
Roldós recalled that this flu, which is at level five -out of six- of possible pandemic, according to the scale of the World Health Organization (WHO), means that we are facing an "imminent pandemic", but that "all protocols are activated". The Minister detailed that in the Islands a protocol had already been foreseen in 2005, because avian flu was a threat at that time.
For the moment, Roldós assures, we must remain calm because not all cases of flu are affected by the H1N1 virus. According to the action protocol, suspected patients will be those who have come from Mexico with a flu-like condition with a temperature higher than 37.5 degrees Celsius, accompanied by the common symptoms of seasonal flu: acute respiratory condition, with cough, headache or diarrhea.
ACN Press
