A Saudi student returning from the United States has been diagnosed with swine flu, becoming the second case of the disease in the Kingdom, the Ministry of Health said Sunday. The man flew from Washington to Jeddah and then on to Dammam in the Eastern Province on Sunday, said Minister of Health Dr. Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Rabeah. The student was identified as a suspected victim by airport thermal detection equipment in Jeddah. He is the first Saudi national to contract the disease. The ministry said that preventive procedures as recommended by the World Health Organization were being strictly observed and appealed to passengers on Saudi Airlines flight 032 from Washington and domestic flight 1108 from Jeddah to Dammam to contact Jeddah Health Affairs at 02-6640288 or 02-6640256 as soon as possible. The first case of swine flu in the Kingdom was reported last Wednesday. A Filipina nurse tested positive several days after returning to Saudi Arabia from holiday. King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center then put 13 nurses, who came into direct contact with the nurse who was found to be suffering from swine flu, on a precautionary therapeutic program. Seven nurses have been given one week rest which is the incubation period of the viral disease, said a report. Saudi Arabia's neighbor Kuwait said on May 24 that 18 US soldiers had H1N1 flu in the first cases to hit the Gulf region. Across the world 21,940 cases have been reported in 69 countries, with 129 deaths, according to the World Health Organization. In US, deaths linked to the swine flu virus have risen to 27, with most of the country now hit by the outbreak health officials said. The Center for Disease Control reported it had seen at least 27 fatalities and a total of 13,271 cases spanning the length and breadth of the country. All 50 states as well as two territories have now reported cases of the A(H1N1) virus. British health authorities have reported 15 more cases of swine flu in England, bring the total number of confirmed cases in the UK to 557. The Health Protection Agency said Sunday that a further 600 or so suspected cases are still being investigated. Britain has the highest number of swine flu cases in Europe but it has had no deaths yet related to the virus.
