Another Two Cases Of Swine Flu Confirmed In Romania

Another two cases of contamination with the new flu virus AH1N1 were confirmed Wednesday evening in Bucharest, in initial testing, but the test will be redone, and the final result will be known Thursday, after which the samples will be sent to London, said health minister adviser Geza Molnar.

Molnar said the two patients are the one year old child of the woman who was found to carry the AH1N1 virus and her father.

"The two were confirmed to carry the virus in initial testing, but the test will be redone and the final result will be known tomorrow (Thursday), after which the samples will be sent to the laboratory in London," said Geza Molnar.


He added the two patients are in the hospital, isolated under medical surveillance, while the child does not present any symptoms, just "some viral excretion that can be temporary."

Romania identified its first case of swine flu in the 30-year-old woman, Health Minister Ion Bazac said earlier Wednesday.

He said tests conducted in Bucharest came back positive for the H1N1 virus and samples were forwarded to a lab in London for confirmation.

However, there is a 99% probability that she was carrying the new virus, Bazac added.

He mentioned authorities are on alert and are working to identify all the people with whom the patient came into contact on her way to Romania and in the country.

Since the first infections with the A H1N1 virus were reported around the world, Romania has had 66 suspected cases that haven’t been made public pending final tests.

The new strain has already infected some 13,000 people worldwide.