Dubai, August 30: The UAE will commission new labs to test for swine flu, even as the World Health Organisation warns of a severe form of the virus that goes straight to the lungs.
The Ministry of Health announced that it would commission a lab, to be opened within two months, at the Al Qassimi Hospital in Sharjah as part of a move to provide more testing centres because of the increasing number of H1N1 influenza cases in the country, including locally transmitted ones. Another is planned for Fujairah.
WHO, in an update on the pandemic, said some countries were reporting that as many as 15 per cent of patients hospitalised with the new H1N1 pandemic virus need intensive care, further straining already overburdened healthcare systems.
“Perhaps most significantly, clinicians from around the world are reporting a very severe form of disease, also in young and otherwise healthy people, which is rarely seen during seasonal influenza infections,” WHO said.
“In these patients, the virus directly infects the lung, causing severe respiratory failure. Saving these lives depends on highly specialised and demanding care in intensive care units, usually with long and costly stays.”
Swine flu has overtaken other viruses to become the most prevalent flu strain.
–Reuters