Swine flu continues to spread in Israel, Health Ministry officials warned this week. More than 180 cases of the illness have been confirmed.
Cases of swine flu were rare in Israel in the first weeks after the virus was discovered. Those infected had recently returned from trips to the United States or Mexico.
However, the virus is now spreading within Israel as well, and the rate of infection has risen, with more than 50 new cases confirmed in this week alone, 25 of them over the past 24 hours. To date, none of the swine flu victims in Israel have suffered serious illness or death, and most have already recovered.
Most of the latest confirmed swine flu victims were participating in Birthright tours when they were diagnosed. Ten of those who were diagnosed were visiting from the U.S., while another 18 were IDF soldiers who met with the Birthright participants as part of their organized tour. Both tourists and soldiers were put under quarantine.
Due to the relatively light symptoms suffered by Israeli bearers of the virus, the Health Ministry has changed a previous policy requiring hospitalization, and now allows flu victims to recover at home after visiting a local emergency room. Victims are given the antiviral medicine Tamiflu.
Young adults at risk
The majority of confirmed cases of swine flu in Israel were discovered in adults aged 20 to 45. Doctors said young adults may be more at risk as they are less likely than older adults to have been exposed to a similar virus in the past.
More than 35,000 people worldwide have been infected with swine flu, and the illness has spread to 75 countries. The World Health Organization recently declared the flu to be a global pandemic, making it the first declared pandemic in more than 40 years.
WHO officials said the change in status was no cause for alarm, and does not mean the virus itself has changed. The virus remains relatively mild, they said; the “pandemic” label refers solely to the rate of transmission.
The swine flu pandemic has caused concern in the medical community in part due to similarities between the virus and the strain that caused the 1918 pandemic known as Spanish flu. The Spanish flu killed an estimated 50 to 100 million people worldwide, with most deaths occurring in secondary and tertiary outbreaks of the illness.