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Public Health confirms five fatalities from A H1N1: two were pregnant

SANTO DOMINGO. The Deputy Minister of Collective Health, Rafael Schiffino, confirmed yester the deaths of five persons from the AH1N! virus, including a pregnant 13 year old in Santiago.

Besides the young girl, there was another pregnant woman who died. Of the other cases no more details were offered.

Schiffino said that today or tomorrow they will give the results of the other four fatalities, which are being investigated in order to determine whether or not they were victims of the A H1N1 flu virus.

In the meantime, in the maternity and public health hospitals they are administering the vaccine against the influenza to pregnant women that go there for consults as well as the medication known as Tamaflu to those who have the grippe.

In the case of the Our Lady of High Grace Maternity Hospital (the largest in the Caribbean) the director, Dr. Victor Calderon, said that he requested 1,000 doses of the vaccine because they ran through the 615 doses that they had on hand.

Hundreds of new patients flock to this hospital each day.

Regarding the grippe, or flu, he said that between seven or eight pregnant women have come in with coughs and other symptoms of the AH1N1 and that they have been treated with medicines provided by the Ministry of Public Health.

Regarding the vaccinations, the Minister of Public Health, Freddy Hidalgo Nuñez, recalled that they are not for everyone with symptoms of the flu, but rather for the groups that are most vulnerable, among whom he mentioned women who are pregnant, the hyper-tense persons, diabetics, the elderly, children under five, persons undergoing chemo-therapy, persons with tuberculosis as well as persons who are HIV+.

If patients present a high fever, cough, pains all over, and difficulty with breathing should go to the doctor's office.

In order to prevent the spread of the influenza outbreak, people should be attentive when sneezing to cover their mouths and noses with a cloth or their elbows.

The Minister of Public Health said that the directors and medical personnel at the public hospitals were instructed with regards as to what to do to counter the grippe and that over the next few days there will be more vaccines available for the focus population.