The Ministry of Health's new crisis management centre is to lead the battle against swine flu, reports Reem Leila The Health Ministry is to set up a crisis management centre housed in its Cairo headquarters to coordinate strategies to contain the spread of swine flu. The centre will continually assess the situation across Egypt's 29 governorates, consulting with the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Geneva, its regional office in Cairo, the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, and with government agencies, including the Cabinet Information and Decision Support Centre (IDSC) and the ministries of interior, transportation and telecommunications. On Monday the Ministry of Health announced Egypt's 66th case of swine flu. The past week has seen a steady increase in the number of patients testing positive. They include four children from Sharqiya governorate who contracted the virus from an Egyptian-American girl who arrived in Cairo on 21 June; a 48-year-old Egyptian woman who arrived on 25 June from Saudi Arabia; a 19-year-old Egyptian female student; a 20-year-old man from the Philippines; a 19-year-old man from Thailand; a 12-year-old Egyptian-American boy; a 47-year- old Palestinian recently arriving from the US, and two Somali men who travelled to Cairo from London. The Health Ministry has strenuously denied reports that a victim of the disease died on Saturday. Its spokesmen, Abdel-Rahman Shahin, urged the public to discount all reports not sourced to official Health Ministry channels. "No one has died in Egypt from the H1N1 virus. Of the 69 cases so far detected 36 patients have made complete recoveries and been discharged from hospital," said Shahin. On Sunday, the ministry announced the opening of four new labs to test for the virus, one each in the governorates of Aswan, Gharbiya, the Red Sea and Sharm El-Sheikh. They will supplement the three labs that are already equipped to test for swine flu in Cairo, Aswan and Minya. Amr Qandil, head of the Central Department for Preventive Affairs at the Health Ministry, expects that a vaccine for the flu will be ready by October. He also explained that patients who have recovered from an infection can expect to remain immune for between three and seven years. Since the first confirmed cases of swine flu in Egypt in June a thriving black market has developed for Tamiflu, leading to concern among officials that some people might take the drug as a preventative measure, regardless of whether or not they have been diagnosed with swine flu. The WHO and Ministry of Health have repeatedly warned against taking the drug before any infection is confirmed. Head of the Doctors' Syndicate Hamdi El-Sayed, who also heads the People's Assembly Health Committee, said the Ministry of Health views illegal selling of the drug as a serious problem. "In a very short period the viruses will become resistant to the drug. No one can take Tamiflu for more than six weeks without the body becoming completely immunised against its effects. If people take Tamiflu as a preventive drug, they won't find anything to cure them if they do become infected later." El-Sayed also warned that counterfeit packages of Tamiflu were being sold. "We know there is a black market and the prices of the drug are skyrocketing," he said. "The government is keeping an eye on pharmacies," says Shahin, and if they are found selling Tamiflu any stocks are confiscated. In some cases, inspectors will arrive undercover, posing as a Tamiflu seeking customer. The Health Ministry has five million packs of Tamiflu in store, and last week announced plans to begin manufacturing the drug locally. "The virus is relatively weak and medication is working. Everything is under control and we urge the public not to panic," says Qandil.
