U.S. soldiers have been confirmed as the first cases in Kuwait with the new H1N1 flu, the state news agency KUNA reported on Saturday, citing a government official.
The swine flu virus was detected in an unspecified number of soldiers transiting through Kuwait. Some remained quarantined in their military base in Kuwait for treatment and some had left the country, KUNA said.
These are the first confirmed cases in the Gulf — the world’s largest oil exporting region. Kuwait is a main logistics base for the U.S. army to support its troops in Iraq.
“The American soldiers, whose names or ages were not disclosed, arrived in Kuwait on transit, they were examined and given appropriate medication,” Health Undersecretary Ibrahim al-Abdulhadi told KUNA.
More details will be released at a news conference on Sunday, it said.
Health officials were not immediately available for comment.
The World Health Organization is poised to declare a full pandemic of the H1N1 swine flu virus, which has infected more than 11,000 people in 42 countries and killed 86.
