2 suspected swine flu cases in SA
2009-04-29 14:44
Pretoria - Two suspected cases of swine flu have been reported in South Africa, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases said on Wednesday.
Deputy director Lucille Blumberg said the first, which became known on Monday, was a woman from the Western Cape who travelled extensively in Mexico earlier this month.
She was in contact with the people there while using trains and buses.
The woman was ill with flu-like symptoms on her return to South Africa on April 24, Blumberg said.
A general practitioner who treated the woman last Saturday did consider swine flu as a possible diagnosis.
She was given anti-viral treatment and sent home.
The woman was fine now.
The specimen taken from her was not stored appropriately, which meant a laboratory assessment to confirm the case could not be done.
"(But) she fits the case definitely," said Blumberg.
The second suspected case which the institute became aware of on Wednesday concerned a woman in Gauteng.
Not many details were known about the woman, although she was known to have returned from Mexico with a flu-like illness.
"She is not particularly ill," said Blumberg.
No confirmed cases of swine flu have been identified in South Africa.
- SAPA