BELGIUM: H1N1: SIX NEW CASES BRING TOTAL TO 20

UNCLAS BRUSSELS 000831 STATE FOR OES/IHB STATE PASS USTR JANE DOHERTY STATE PASS USAID STATE PASS HHS/NIH E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KFLU AEMR ASEC AMED CASC KFLO TBIO KSAF KPAO PREL PINR, AMGT, TF, BE SUBJECT: BELGIUM: H1N1: SIX NEW CASES BRING TOTAL TO 20 REF: BRUSSELS 804 SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (U) Belgian health authorities announced five more positive cases of H1N1 over the weekend of June 13-14, and then indicated on June 16 that a probable 20th case had occurred. All cases are considered mild, and all patients have received antiviral treatment. End summary. CASE FIFTEEN ¶2. (U) A female flight attendant from Antwerp tested positive on June 13, after having left the Dominican Republic on June 8 and arriving in Brussels on June 9, after transiting Jamaica. She felt ill with flu symptoms on June 12 and contacted her doctor who had her tested. The patient has been kept isolated at home and is being treated with antivirals. Authorities deem she was contagious during her flight (Jetairfly flight JAF104),and have sought to contact Belgians who were on the flight; names of non-Belgians were to be passed to health authorities of their countries for follow-up. Persons having had close contact with the patient were put on a preventative treatment of antivirals and were asked to remain isolated at their residences. CASE SIXTEEN ¶3. (U) A woman from eastern Flanders who had returned to Belgium June 8 from New York also tested positive on June 13. She contacted a doctor on June 12 after she began to experience flu symptoms. She has been kept isolated at home and is being treated, and persons having had contact with her have been isolated, treated, and are staying at home. Health authorities believe the woman was not/not contagious during her flight. CASE SEVENTEEN ¶4. (U) The third person testing positive on June 13 was a Canadian woman transiting Brussels from Toronto to New Delhi on June 12. She did not feel well while at the Brussels' Zaventem airport, and was put in isolation there until her positive test, when she was transferred to Saint Pierre's hospital in Brussels for treatment. Passengers at risk from the Toronto-Brussels and the Brussels-New Delhi flights were to have been contacted by health authorities. CASE EIGHTEEN ¶5. (U) A male flight attendant colleague of case fifteen tested positive for H1N1 on June 14. Authorities say he was not/not contagious during the flight from the Dominican Republic to Belgium (via Jamaica); the man had not worked since arriving in Belgium on June 9. He had been isolated at home and had received treatment since June 12 after his colleague had tested positive, but at that point he had already acquired the virus. Persons having had close contact are being treated preventatively and isolated at their homes. The man is being treated at home. CASE NINETEEN ¶6. (U) A man who had had close contact with the woman from eastern Flanders (case sixteen) also tested positive on June 14. He had been isolated at home and received treatment for the virus, and persons having had close contact are being treated with antivirals and isolated at home. Case nineteen will remain at home for treatment. CASE TWENTY ¶7. (U) Belgian health authorities announced in a June 16 press release that a 'probable' case of H1N1 had been found, involving a six-year old girl who had come in close contact with the woman identified above as case sixteen. The girl showed fever symptoms on June 14. As she had already been isolated for seven days at home and had been receiving preventative treatment for H1N1, authorities decided not to test her. BUSH