The GazetteApril 25, 2009 5:17 PM
Fears of a swine-flu appearance in Montreal on Saturday afternoon are unfounded.
Johanne Simard, an official of the Montreal regional health board, says there are no cases of swine flu at Lakeshore General Hospital on the West Island and no quarantines in effect.
CTV Montreal had reported early Saturday afternoon that there were two precautionary quarantines in effect at the Lakeshore, and the LCN cable network one reported that there was quarantine. The cases cited involved people who had fallen sick after trips to Mexico, where the rise of a new swine-flu cluster has created global fears of a pandemic.
But after speaking to several high-ranking officials, The Gazette has been able to ascertain that doctors examined some people who were then subsequently ruled out for swiine flu.
And Simard went further, stating categorically that there are no quarantines in effect at the Lakeshore.
Still, health authorities that The Gazette spoke to – among them Louis-Pascal Cyr, the Lakeshore’s communications director, and Marie=Ève Bédard, press aide to Health Minister Guy Bolduc – stressed that Quebec is going on high alert with respect to swine-flu surveillance. The authorities say they want anyone who has recently been to Mexico and fallen sick with flu-like symptoms to report to a doctor or hospital. For the moment, Bédard said, there still isn’t a single documented case of swine flu in Quebec.
Outside Quebec, the World Health Organization is holding emergency meetings today to look at assess pandemic risks, with more than 20 deaths in Mexico confirmed to be linked to a new swine-flu strain known as A N1N1. More than 1,000 people in Mexico have fallen ill with flu-like symptoms in recent days. The mayor of Mexico has cancelled all public events for 10 days.
No comments:
Post a Comment