NASSAU, BAHAMAS – There are now four reported cases of swine flu in The Bahamas, Minister of Health Dr. Duane Sands confirmed on Tuesday.
Dr. Sands said as of yesterday, the newest patient had been hospitalized.
The health minister said that he would like everyone to know that they can protect themselves and their families from contracting swine flu.
Swine flu Immunizations are given free of charge at local clinics, Sands said. He also urged
Bahamians to use good hygiene.
“We have had about 2500 people take the swine flu, flu vaccine…[with] that said we can confirm that there has been one more case of H1N1 influenza,” Dr. Sands said.
The Health Minister said that he would like to separate the idea of there just being an outbreak of swine flu just because it sounds interesting.
“We are talking about seasonal influenza, and H1N1 has been tied to that term swine flu…” he said.
The health minister further stated that he wants everyone to understand the seriousness of the flu, whether it is the swine flu or a different strain of the flu.
“The fact that the H1N1 subtype is one of the types of flu, it doesn’t mean the other types are not serious,” he said.
The reported number of flu cases in The Bahamas ranges from 200 to 650 annually, according to the Department of Statistics.
Flu season runs from October to May and peaks around February.
According to the Department of Public Health, there were 403 clinical cases of influenza in 2017 and four confirmed cases of swine flu.
H1N1 flu is also known as swine flu. It’s called swine flu because in the past, the people who caught it had direct contact with pigs. That changed several years ago when a new virus emerged that spread among people who hadn’t been near pigs.
In 2009, H1N1 was spreading fast around the world, so the World Health Organization called it a pandemic. Since then, people have continued to get sick from swine flu, but not as many.
Swine Flu Symptoms include: cough, fever, sore throat, stuffy or runny nose, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue.
