Friday, May 1, 2009

German Patient May Have Passed On Swine Flu to Others (Update1)

Last Updated: April 30, 2009 09:09 EDT

By Brett Neely

April 30 (Bloomberg) -- A German man infected with swine flu has possibly infected a nurse and another patient, a hospital in the Bavarian city of Straubing said.

Both the patient and the nurse are being treated and are “doing well,” Caroline Kappes, a spokeswoman for the hospital, said in a telephone interview today. Test results confirming or denying the presence of swine flu will be available later today, she said.

The hospital admitted one of Germany’s three confirmed cases of swine flu last week, a 37-year-old man identified as Frank M. The man had recently returned from a trip to Mexico and was being treated for heart disease in the hospital’s intensive care unit when doctors diagnosed him with swine flu. The patient with the suspected flu infection shared an intensive care ward with Frank M., where the nurse was also working, Kappes said.

Once Frank M. was diagnosed with the disease, both he and the patient were treated with Tamiflu, Kappes said. Frank M. was transferred to a university clinic in Regensburg in order to treat his heart condition, Kappes said. He is now fever-free, Andreas Zapf, president of the State Health Office of Bavaria, was cited by the Bild newspaper as saying.

The patient has “no flu symptoms, no fever and small sniffles,” while the nurse is well enough to be recovering at home, Kappes said.


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