Peru, Costa Rica Heighten Alert for Possible Swine Flu Outbreak
Adjust font size:
Peru and Costa Rica on Friday reinforced their epidemic vigilance measures following a deadly swine flu outbreak in Mexico.
In Peru, health services intensified vigilance actions for all the people traveling from Mexico and the United States in an effort to detect symptoms of the flu.
Although there has not been any similar case registered in Peru, the alert state will continue as a preventive measure, Peruvian health authorities said.
Meanwhile in Costa Rica, Health Minister Maria Luisa Avila told Xinhua on Friday that her country had declared a sanitary alert across the country.
Like Peru, there has not been any case of flu infection reported in Costa Rica, but Avila said the situation in Mexico are "worrying."
According to Avila, the country's Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock also took actions by observing the swines in the country, and the migratory authorities were requested to strengthen vigilance measures at the airports. All passengers from Mexico will receive check.
The Mexican authorities have confirmed 20 deaths across the country from this flu outbreak.
According to earlier media reports, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday that there had been 57 suspected deaths in Mexico from the outbreak of what it identified as "swine flu."
(Xinhua News Agency April 25, 2009)