Number Of Victims Of Swine Flu Increases To 3 In Turkey

The number of people who have died from the H1N1 virus, also known as swine flu, in Turkey has increased to three following the successive deaths of two women in Kocaeli and Mersin provinces late on Sunday and on Monday, respectively.

Güler Akbaş had been receiving treatment at Farabi State Hospital in Darıca, Kocaeli province, after she went to the emergency room of the hospital on Friday due to shivering and a high fever. She later died late on Sunday. She had been diagnosed with the H1N1 virus and put in the intensive care unit in an isolated room.

Two more people affected with swine flu are reportedly being treated in the intensive care unit of the same hospital.

A 56-year-old woman also died from the H1N1 virus in Mersin province on Monday.

There is also another patient diagnosed with swine flu under treatment at the Mersin State Hospital. Thirty-three-year-old Yaşar Büyükalıç is being kept in the intensive care unit in an isolated room of the hospital. Hospital officials have reported his medical condition to be serious.

On March 3, a man who ran a private security company in Sivas died from swine flu.

The Ministry of Health is expected to issue a statement on the swine flu cases. Doctors list the symptoms of swine flu as sore throat, headache and pain all over the body, runny nose, coughing and difficulty in breathing, vomiting, diarrhea and a high fever.

(Cihan/Today's Zaman)