Swine flu fear grips Egypt quarantine on university hostile extended

Egypt – The American University in Cairo (AUC) on Tuesday evening extended the quarantine on their student dormitory for one week, after five more students were feared to have con tracted the H1N1 flu, the university said.

The new cases bring the total number of students feared to be infected with the swine flu virus to seven, and that number is expected to rise as at least two cases outside the university were reported across Egypt on Wednesday.

All the affected seven students are Americans who recently arrived in Egypt.

Police were seen guarding the entrance to the 7-storey concrete building in Cairo’s upscale Zamalek neighborhood, and they have barred journalists from taking pictures of the facility.

“Tests for the H1N1 flu taken from residents of the American University in Cairo dormitory have resulted in five additional confirmed cases,” the university said in a letter sent to faculty members, a copy of which was obtained by PANA.

“On the basis of the new cases, the quarantine for the dormitory has been extend ed until June 15th,” the letter said.

On Monday, Egyptian and university authorities ordered a 24-hour quarantine of the dormitory, which houses mainly foreign students and faculty, after two students who recently arrived from the United States tested p ositive for the virus.

But according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), Egypt has only one confirmed case of influenza A (H1N1).

The latest WHO figures show that 25,288 cases of H1N1 infection have been recorded in 73 countries, with 139 deaths recorded.

Egypt, hard hit by the more deadly H5N1 bird flu virus, detected its first suspected H1N1 case last week in a 12-year-old American girl, who arrived for a holiday in the most populous Arab country.

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