Swine Flu panics Wassit citizens

WASSIT / IraqiNews.com: Citizen (D.M), who has just recovered from the Swine Flu, does not want to speak about it, as people still treat her cautiously and causing her to feel apprehensive. Citizens in Wassit, which registered the highest number of H1N1 cases throughout Iraq, still worry about it, which is resulting in them adopting precautionary measures which limit their movement and even their daily treatment among themselves. “I cant describe my sad feelings toward this damn disease which has started to spread among my colleagues. I have gone through tough days and I expected to die every moment,” D.M, a citizen from Wassit, told IraqiNews.com news agency. “Some people keep staring at me, even some members of my family, and I do not know if this treatment will continue or if it will end one day…? The main problem is being a woman and I’m looking for a good future like other girls,” she said. “It was like any other day when I felt an increase in my temperature, vomiting and diarrhea and I thought it’s a common cold, but one of my colleagues in the school conducted the test which proved it to be the H1N1,”  she explained. “My family sent me to the hospital where I was quarantined, then they told me I have the virus,” she added. Abu Mustapha, a father of five children, said “the spread of the disease in the city has created a state of panic among residents who started adopting precautionary measures, including ordering their children to remain indoors.” “The condition of families is disrupted; they worry about the disease which started to spread in the province and throughout Iraq,” he added. In Wassit province, some 980 schools were shut for five days after several students at one of the province’s schools were diagnosed with A(H1N1). “The decision was taken to prevent the spread of influenza and an increase in the number of cases,” Sunduz Faisal, a senior Wassit official, said. Provincial health chief Maher Gaanem Murad confirmed “31 cases at a secondary school in the al-Hai district.” The A (H1N1) virus has killed at least 4,525 people in 191 countries since it was first reported in April in Mexico, according to a WHO tally. Most deaths have occurred in the Americas, where 3,406 have been reported. In total, seventy-three cases have been so far detected in Wassit, the highest percentage in Iraq, which registered 114 positive cases, according to a recent statistic. Meanwhile, director of the health department in Wassit, Dr. Maher Murad al-Aabdi, said “there are many people infected by the H1N1 in Wassit but I assert the disease is under control.” “Medical teams have dispersed throughout the province and managed to control the situation,” he said, pointing out the province has received an adequate amount of the vaccine. SH (S)/SR 1