The 2009 swine flu pandemic, an influenza outbreak commonly known as "swine flu", affected Portugal from May 2009 to early 2010. The outbreak caused 122 deaths in the country.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7d/Portugal%27s_swine_flu_graph.jpg/700px-Portugal%27s_swine_flu_graph.jpg)
Course of the outbreak
editOn 4 May, there was one confirmed case in Lisbon, Portugal, but it did not represent any concern, because the risk of transmission was no longer present at that time.[1]
On 1 June, Ana Jorge, the Portuguese Health Minister, confirmed the second case in Portugal, a 33-year-old man who travelled from the United States, first landing in Frankfurt, Germany. The case was reported at São João Hospital, Oporto.[2] On 30 June, five new cases were announced in Portugal elevating the total number of cases to 18.[3]
The first known cases resulting from human-to-human transmission were reported on 4 July (one in Azores, and the other one in Lisbon).[4] On 7 July, the first school was closed down for prevention, in Lisbon, as well as a kindergarten in Azores. The next day the first case was confirmed in the Braga district, making the total cases 61. As of 14 July, there were a total of 96 confirmed cases in Portugal.[5] On this day, it was also announced that Faro's Hospital would join, on 15 July, the set of hospitals in the country capable of receiving patients infected with the A/H1N1 flu virus.[6] Total cases rose to 154 on 20 July.[7]
Government officials stated that the worst-case scenario in Portugal would be 25% infection with a mortality of 0.1%, i.e. 8700 deaths.[8]
The outbreak started to spread more rapidly in September; on the 13th, Portugal had 9618 cases officially confirmed. The first death was reported on 23 September.[9] By 28 October, there had been four deaths - two men, one woman and one child[10] - and there were more than 25,000 cases confirmed. As of 4 December, there were 121,677 cases confirmed and 24 deaths. The final death toll, reported in May 2010, was 122.[11]
References
edit- ^ "Confirmado primeiro caso de Gripe A em Portugal - PUBLICO.PT". Archived from the original on 2009-05-07. Retrieved 2009-08-06.
- ^ "Second case of swine flu in Portugal". Archived from the original on 2011-07-18. Retrieved 2009-08-06.
- ^ "Gripe A: Confirmado o 18º caso em Portugal | Saúde | Diário Digital". Diariodigital.sapo.pt. Archived from the original on 2011-07-21. Retrieved 2012-12-01.
- ^ "Primeiro caso de contágio interno de Gripe A". Archived from the original on 2009-08-19. Retrieved 2018-07-28.
- ^ "Noticias online em tempo real". Jornal Digital. 2009-07-14. Archived from the original on 2011-07-13. Retrieved 2012-12-01.
- ^ "Hospital de Faro junta-se amanhã às unidades de referência para a gripe A - PÚBLICO". Ultimahora.publico.clix.pt. 2009-07-14. Archived from the original on 2012-07-19. Retrieved 2012-12-01.
- ^ "Gripe A: Portugal com mais de 150 casos - TVNET.PT". Tvnet.sapo.pt. 2009-07-20. Archived from the original on 2013-05-18. Retrieved 2012-12-01.
- ^ "Pesquisa SAPO". dn. 2009-12-06. Archived from the original on 2009-09-27. Retrieved 2012-12-01.
- ^ "A/H1N1 Swine Flu (Influenza) Timeline | September 24: Portugal (PT): First death confirmed". Archived from the original on 2010-06-16. Retrieved 2015-12-17.
- ^ Morreu hoje a primeira criança com Gripe A em Portugal - Portugal Archived 2009-10-31 at the Wayback Machine. DN
- ^ "Number of fatal cases". ECDC. Retrieved 17 December 2015.