Over 100 people have been diagnosed with AH1N1 – swine flu – in Venezuela, the country's health minister said today.
After a 32-year-old died on Wednesday last week health authorities, seeing it as a suspicious case, began tests on others, Health Minister Eugenia Sader said.
The outbreak at this stage seems confined to the southwestern state of Merida.
Classes have been cancelled and closed-in venues such as nightclubs have been closed.
Health authorities believe they have isolated the cases and have been administering vaccines, Sader said at a news conference. All of the patients are adults, she said.
The cases were announced earlier by Information Minister Andres Izarra, who said health officials were taking measures to prevent the illness from spreading.
Venezuelan health officials in 2009 attributed dozens of deaths to swine flu and said hundreds of other people were diagnosed.
AP / 3 News