No need to panic about H1N1 cases — ministry

AMMAN — The H1N1 (swine) flu is no longer a pandemic and has become a seasonal influenza that does not require reporting, a health official said on Saturday.

Bashir Qaseer, head of the Health Ministry’s primary health directorate, said risk groups — the elderly, pregnant women and children, in addition to those who live with respiratory diseases — are advised to take the seasonal flu vaccine to avoid flu complications in general, and not just H1N1.

Qaseer told The Jordan Times that six members of the same family were admitted to Mafraq Public Hospital over the weekend after being diagnosed with H1N1.

“Although their condition is stable, they were admitted as a preventive measure,” the health official said, noting that the public need not worry or panic about the disease or reports of these cases.

Qaseer explained that if a patient is not one of those who are classified in risk groups, there likely will be no complications.

The H1N1 virus first emerged in Jordan in June 2009 with 3,049 cases and 16 related fatalities registered in the country that year.

The strain re-emerged in December 2010, causing 289 illnesses and 17 related deaths.

But the virus has since become seasonal, with fewer diagnosed cases and rare cases of death.

The Health Ministry has said that since the first outbreak of the disease in the country, all H1N1-related deaths in Jordan occurred among patients in high-risk groups such as the elderly, children, pregnant women and those with respiratory diseases.