4-27-09, 9:09 am

HAVANA, Cuba, April 27 (acn) Cuba´s Health Ministry issued a press release on Monday announcing a package of preventive measures following the presence of the Influenza A virus subtype H1N1 in Mexico and in other countries.

The information says that the Cuban Public Health Ministry has been following reports by international health organizations and by authorities in Mexico and the United States about humans affected in those countries with the new Swine Influenza A virus, H1N1.

The virus has infected 20 people in the United States and over 1, 000 in several Mexican states, where 80 diseased persons have already died. Canada and some European countries have already reported the first cases of the virus in their territories, explains the release.

Cuba´s Health Ministry, the Civil Defense, the Veterinary Institute and other entities in the country have been working, over the past few years, in a program to prevent an epidemic stemming from the bird flue and in that direction those entities have applied some measures in the fields of diagnosis, risk reduction and in the capabilities to face such an epidemic in all the Cuban national territory.

In the case of the current virus, which is transmitted from person to person and with many possibilities to spread around the world, Cuba is adopting a package of necessary measures in all air and maritime terminals, with a strong limitation on flights from and to Mexico, plus local preparedness to take further necessary steps. Also included is the updating of all surveillance capabilities of clinical and epidemiological kind as well as those related to the assistance given to the population by the National Health Care System. All actions scheduled to be taken in different circumstances linked to the evolution of the current situation have been considered by the Health Ministry in coordination with the National Civil Defense and other entities, explains the press release.

The Cuban Health Ministry also asks the population to intensify all personal and collective hygienic measures and timely medical assistance when necessary.

The Cuban Public Health Ministry and its entities count on all necessary material and human resources throughout the country, organized in an attention system that is accessible to all the Cuban population, the press release concluded.

From the Cuban News Agency