A doctor checks the conditions of a boy who has close contact to the first A/H1N1 flu case at a children's hospital in Managua, capital of Nicaragua, on June 2, 2009. The condition of the first A/H1N1 flu case in the country remains stable, and the persons who have close contact to her are being checked to eliminate the possible spread of the flu. [Xinhua]

Nicaragua confirmed on Tuesday its first case of A/H1N1 flu, in a five-year-old girl.

The patient's father, Oscar Arazu, said on Tuesday that his daughter presented flu symptoms during the weekend, but he had never thought she would be infected with the A/H1N1 flu virus.

Till Monday, Nicaragua was the only country in Central America without any case of A/H1N1 flu.

Arazu said that his daughter is now being treated at the children's hospital La Mascota, in the south of Managua. The girl lives with her parents in the district of Monsenor Lezcano in the west of Managua.

Nicaraguan Health Minister Guillermo Gonzalez said on Monday night that the girl was the first case of A/H1N1 flu in the country.

Staff from the Local System of Integral Attention on Health (SILAIS) visited the house of the patient, but the tests they conducted on the relatives living with her turned out to be negative.

Health workers also visited the nearby houses and the girl's school to prevent the spread of the virus.

Local authorities asked Monsenor inhabitants to use masks and wash their hands frequently as a preventive measure.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there have been 17,410 infections of A/H1N1 flu in 62 countries and regions, including 115 deaths.

A doctor checks the temperature of a boy who has close contact to the first A/H1N1 flu case at a children's hospital in Managua, Nicaragua, on June 2, 2009. The condition of the first A/H1N1 flu case in the country remains stable, and the persons who have close contact to her are being checked to eliminate the possible spread of the flu. [Xinhua]

(Xinhua News Agency June 3, 2009)