Erbil hospital says patient's death could have been caused by swine flu

Health authorities in the Kurdistan Region said on Wednesday that they had identified what they believe could be a case of swine flu that led to a patient’s death in a hospital in the capital of Erbil.

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Health authorities in the Kurdistan Region said on Wednesday that they had identified what they believe could be a case of swine flu that led to a patient’s death in a hospital in the capital of Erbil.

The director of Erbil’s Health Directorate, Delovan Mohammad, told Kurdistan 24 that the first death was on New Year’s Eve, noting that the person was suspected of having had the seasonal H1N1 influenza.

“The patient’s examinations have been sent to appropriate testing facilities, but the results are not in yet,” Mohammed said. “We cannot say for certain that it was a case of H1N1 or not, but the symptoms indicated the swine flu.”

The health official affirmed, “We have taken the necessary measures to prevent the spread of the disease and have allocated two special halls for seasonal flu patients in every hospital in Erbil.”

According to health authorities, the patient, reportedly of elderly age, had undergone treatment in a private hospital for over a week but passed away after their condition deteriorated.

Swine flu is an airborne virus that infects pigs, hence the name. In rare cases, it can be passed to humans. It first emerged in 2009 as a global epidemic and spread through human contact but was contained after a year.  

This is the first death recorded in Erbil this season. Health authorities have reported such cases in the city of Sulaimani with three deaths having been caused by the same viral infection.

The Kurdistan Region’s Ministry of Health recently announced it was taking necessary measures to limit the spread of the virus. 

In early 2016, a swine flu outbreak claimed over 30 lives in neighboring Iran, including seven in Iranian Kurdistan (Rojhilat). 

Read More: Flu kills 7 in Iranian Kurdistan 

Editing by John J. Catherine