The five new cases involve two Filipino nurses who were treating one of the patients infected with the H1N1 virus at Riyadh’s King Abdul Aziz Medical City; a two-year-old boy of unreported nationality who had close contact with swine flu patients at Saudi Aramco Hospital in Dhahran; a nine-year-old Malaysian boy who arrived recently at King Abdul Aziz International Airport in Jeddah on Malaysian Airlines Flight 150 and who is being treated in Makkah; and yet another Filipino nurse who arrived on June 13 at Riyadh’s King Khaled International Airport via Cathay Pacific Flight 733 on June 13 and who is being treated at King Fahd Medical City National Guard Hospital.
Meanwhile, in view of the reports that people are rushing to stock up on Tamiflu and similar medications, the ministry clarified that taking flu medication as a preventative treatment against H1N1 is ineffective.
It stressed that flu medication is only effective after a person contracts the virus.
According to Dr Khalid Al Mirghalani, ministry spokesman, Tamiflu is not a preventive medicine; it is a curative tablet that is given when the patient shows symptoms of the disease.
The ministry assured that the Kingdom is not at risk of running out of flu medicines.