CAIRO - Four people have been put in hospital quarantine with swine flu symptoms in the Delta governorates of Kafr el-Sheikh and Menufia, health officials said. The four male patients, including a 17-year-old student, were quarantined in hospitals late Thursday with symptoms of the flu, the health ministry said in a statement. The patients, who have been diagnosed with the flu, are in quarantine and undergoing tests, it added. The H1N1 swine flu virus has infected 1,172 people in Egypt and killed 56 since October 8, a Ministry of Health official said. The virus has infected 16,373 people, of whom 281 died, since it was first reported in Egypt in June 2009, said the official, who asked not to be named. H1N1 flu broke out in 2009 and quickly spread across the world. The World Health Organisation said about 18,450 people died from the virus, including many pregnant women and young people. Last year Cairo took various initiatives to try to limit the spread of H1N1, including culling all pigs in the country, temporarily closing schools and stopping travellers with fever at airports.
