.2 US students diagnosed with swine flu in Cairo
CAIRO (AP) - A foreign students' dormitory for the American University in Cairo has been put under quarantine for seven days Monday after two U.S. students were diagnosed with swine flu, health and university officials said.
The two cases were discovered Sunday night after the students exhibited flu-like symptoms and tested positive for the virus. They were hospitalized and given Tamiflu, said a Health Ministry statement.
"The building and the people inside it have been put under supervised quarantine, their temperatures are being been checked, and swabs have been taken from their throats and mouth and sent to laboratories," said Nasser el-Sayyed, an assistant health minister in the statement.
"Some others have exhibited high temperatures and sore throats," he added. The ministry said that there were 234 people in the dorm, including 110 students from 10 different countries and they would be checked daily over the coming week.
The 23-year-old students who contracted the flu, a male from New Jersey and a female from Florida, arrived from the U.S. on May 28 for a summer program at the university, but didn't exhibit symptoms until Friday.
Every year hundreds of foreign students take classes at AUC, which has a 5,500 person student body, 81 percent of whom are Egyptian.
The dormitory is located in Zamalek, an upper class neighborhood of Cairo, home to many foreigners and embassies.
The university itself recently relocated to the desert outskirts of the capital.
University classes will be suspended until Sunday, AUC President, David Arnold said in a press conference. The graduation ceremony scheduled June 16 and 18 will be held as planned.
Police cordoned off the dorm building and sealed off part of the road leading to it, only allowing in dozens of pizza boxes sent by the university board in a "show support and appreciation," said Arnold, adding that channels of communication have been opened with authorities.
Arnold would not confirm the government's decision to impose a weeklong quarantine on the building and only said the situation would be assessed once test results for those inside were available Tuesday.
Egypt announced its first confirmed swine flu case June 2 after an Egyptian-American girl arriving in the country tested positive.
Arnold said those afflicted likely contracted the virus elsewhere and is confident that there will be no panic among the rest of the AUC student body. He acknowledged that since the announcement over 100 students approached the university clinic for testing.
Travelers arriving in Egypt are photographed, their body temperature scanned and addresses taken down in case further follow up is necessary.
Egypt's government has come under criticism for its decision to slaughter the nation's 300,000 pigs in response to the swine flu problem.
The move has elicited widespread criticism from international animal rights groups and was described as unnecessary by the World Health Organization.
MyWay
The two cases were discovered Sunday night after the students exhibited flu-like symptoms and tested positive for the virus. They were hospitalized and given Tamiflu, said a Health Ministry statement.
"The building and the people inside it have been put under supervised quarantine, their temperatures are being been checked, and swabs have been taken from their throats and mouth and sent to laboratories," said Nasser el-Sayyed, an assistant health minister in the statement.
"Some others have exhibited high temperatures and sore throats," he added. The ministry said that there were 234 people in the dorm, including 110 students from 10 different countries and they would be checked daily over the coming week.
The 23-year-old students who contracted the flu, a male from New Jersey and a female from Florida, arrived from the U.S. on May 28 for a summer program at the university, but didn't exhibit symptoms until Friday.
Every year hundreds of foreign students take classes at AUC, which has a 5,500 person student body, 81 percent of whom are Egyptian.
The dormitory is located in Zamalek, an upper class neighborhood of Cairo, home to many foreigners and embassies.
The university itself recently relocated to the desert outskirts of the capital.
University classes will be suspended until Sunday, AUC President, David Arnold said in a press conference. The graduation ceremony scheduled June 16 and 18 will be held as planned.
Police cordoned off the dorm building and sealed off part of the road leading to it, only allowing in dozens of pizza boxes sent by the university board in a "show support and appreciation," said Arnold, adding that channels of communication have been opened with authorities.
Arnold would not confirm the government's decision to impose a weeklong quarantine on the building and only said the situation would be assessed once test results for those inside were available Tuesday.
Egypt announced its first confirmed swine flu case June 2 after an Egyptian-American girl arriving in the country tested positive.
Arnold said those afflicted likely contracted the virus elsewhere and is confident that there will be no panic among the rest of the AUC student body. He acknowledged that since the announcement over 100 students approached the university clinic for testing.
Travelers arriving in Egypt are photographed, their body temperature scanned and addresses taken down in case further follow up is necessary.
Egypt's government has come under criticism for its decision to slaughter the nation's 300,000 pigs in response to the swine flu problem.
The move has elicited widespread criticism from international animal rights groups and was described as unnecessary by the World Health Organization.
MyWay
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