Philipsburg: --- There are at least two confirmed cases of swine flu on St. Maarten confirmed head of sector health care Jorien Wuite. Wuite who was present at the weekly executive press briefing said when they were notified that there were suspected cases at the American University they immediately took samples and send it on to Holland for testing. She said the moment that suspicion arises they immediately ask the patients to stay home. Wuite said the patient is recovering well and she should stay in isolation for at least seven to ten days depending on her recovery.
St. Maarten has 100 doses of Tamiflu and if it is necessary the island would be able to get more medication from Curacao or Netherlands.
This advice she said was based on decisions that were taken in the Netherlands Antilles.
The department head said they are still conducting tests to see if the other suspected cases are positive. Wuite said up to Wednesday they were still collecting more samples from AUC while they were also called in by a house doctor for two other households of suspected cases of Swine Flu (H1N1). The department she said would be collecting samples from five or six more persons and results should be back within 48 hours.
These persons so far are only suspected cases and they were advised to remain at home as a preventive measure. Wuite said that the persons who picked up the virus picked it up locally but she could not say where exactly it originated from.
Wuite said the patients were quarantined since Friday last week and the confirmation was received on Tuesday.
The patient who lives on the French side of the island was given Tamiflu and is still in isolation on the French side, where the authorities have been involved. Wuite said there have been two confirmed cases while one of them is on St. Maarten the other one is now in Japan. This person she said is a resident of Japan but was on the island from April to June. This person she said was a volunteer at the AUC.
The head of sector of health care said everyone expected that there would be cases Swine Flu on the island since there have been a number of cases in the region and St. Maarten being a tourist destination.