Philipsburg: --- The Sector Health Care Affairs head Joireen Wuite said that St.Maarten just received results on two more confirmed cases of H1N1 virus. The results were released at a press conference on Monday afternoon. Dr. Izzy Gerzstenbluth also released the results on Curacao who now has 13 confirmed cases; Bonaire has four confirmed cases, and Statia 1 case. The Netherlands Antilles now has 28 confirmed cases of H1N1 since the outbreak two months ago. The latest confirmation is from two 12-year old boys who were on a cruise with relatives.
Dr. Izzy Gerzstenbluth said St. Maarten has two new cases that are active but the patients are recovering even though there were ten people infected with the virus. Gerzstenbluth said the other eight patients have already recovered from the virus. Dr. Izzy Gerzstenbluth said all the cases so far are travel related and there is no increase in the influenza cases. He said when all the data that has been sent to SHCA is analyzed it showed that the H1N1 virus is already contained on St. Maarten and the entire Netherlands Antilles. Dr. Gerzstenbluth said even though they know that that the virus is not dangerous they are jumping on every case because the SHCA is trying its best to prevent the spread of H1N1 virus.
He said even though this is the trend everyone has to remain vigilante since it is best to keep the virus from becoming dangerous. Patients that were tested positive are treated with tamiflu. He said the SHCA is also preparing for any possible increase since people are now travelling for the summer vacations. The doctor said they have to closely monitor travelers to make sure they do not bring back the virus with them and if they do make sure they are treated and remain contained. Maria Henry of SCHA said of the ten confirmed cases on St. Maarten, six of them were clustered cases, relating to the AUC (American Medical University of the Caribbean) while the other four came from travelers. The sector head stressed that the cases confirmed on St. Maarten were relatively mild.
