Epidemiologist reports four fatal influenza cases in Serbia

NIS, BELGRADE - Four people have died after contracting the H1N1 virus and there are two more suspect cases of H1N1 infection in Serbia, epidemiologist Branislav Tiodorovic, acting director of the Public Health Institute in Nis, southern Serbia, told Tanjug Thursday.

Tiodorovic said Influenza A (H1N1) and A (H3N2) viruses had been confirmed present in the Nis area.

The fatal cases include persons from Novi Sad, Valjevo and Uzice, and a 33-year-old pregnant woman from the vicinity of Belgrade, who died at the Clinical Center of Serbia's Clinic for Infectious Diseases on Wednesday.

Tiodorovic said an analysis had confirmed that the deaths were flu-related.

Mijomir Pelemis, director of the clinic in Belgrade, said today that unfortunately, the doctors could not save the five-month-pregnant woman though they had tried their best.
"She was admitted to our clinic on the seventh day of illness and was put on a ventilator immediately. Laboratory findings proved the presence of the H1N1 virus," said Pelemis.

Belgrade-based daily Politika reported today that three more patients with the virus had been hospitalized and put on ventilators in a clinic in Kragujevac, central Serbia.

Pelimis said that even though no flu epidemic had been declared and the number of flu-related cases was small, the majority of those who had contracted the virus had arrived in very difficult conditions.
"This proves that there is still only a very small number of people in Serbia taking vaccination against the flu, even though the vaccine is the only reliable protection," he said.

Tiodorovic stated that the number of people diagnosed with flu had increased, and a flu epidemic had been declared only at the special psychiatric...