Swine Flu
"How Far Can the Swine Flu Spread"
As of August 12, 2009 -- the number of American troops that have contracted the Swine Flu has reached 67, making United States soldiers the largest group in the country to be effected by this potentially deadly virus.
The Iraqi health ministry released this number as well as steps being taken so as to keep that number at what it is. As of now, all of the infected soldiers have gotten treatment or are undergoing treatment.
Iraqi officials are giving weekly updates with the number of cases of swine flu weekly. They say not to worry though, because since the American military started testing for the swine flu virus, there has been no sudden out break of the swine flu, but rather a gradual increase in number of people infected.
Swine flu cases have been diagnosed at six of the United States bases in Iraq -- but the military is taking precautionary measures by screen testing for theswine flu before they are deployed as well as when the arrive on base.
The Iraqi cabinet has also banned a lot of travel in an among middle Eastern cities during the Holy holiday of Ramadan starting later this month. This is in hopes that less people will contract theswine flu. The Iraqi cabinet is also banning children, the elderly and the chronically ill from the annual pilgrimage in late November.
The Iraqi cabinet just approved the purchase of $100 million worth of the antiviral medicine tamiflu -- which is only enough to help a quarter of Iraq's total population.