USAID, U.S. Embassy helps Albania fight swine flu
TIRANA, Aug 10 – In cooperation with Albania’s Ministry of Health, the Institute of Public Health, and UNICEF, USAID/Albania and the U.S. Embassy in Tirana launched a public information campaign to raise awareness on how Albanians can protect themselves from contracting the H1N1 virus, commonly known as swine flu.
Since its discovery in May, swine flu, an illness that mainly affects the respiratory system and is transmitted by person to person contact, has spread rapidly across the globe. According to the World Health Organization the virus is classified as a global pandemic. In July, Albania confirmed its first case of swine flu. Now there are confirmed to be eight positive cases out of some 300 persons of the 15-44 years old age checked. Only two of them were hospitalized. More are expected with the entry of hundreds of thousands of travelers and members of the Diaspora from all over the world.
