Pig flu: crisis cell and emergency measures in Algeria airports, ports

Algerian health ministry established a crisis cell Sunday after the World Heath Organisation (WHO) had warned that the new strain of the swine flu virus that has killed 81 people in Mexico could become a global pandemic.

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• A meeting between the ministry’s representatives and involved sectors came up with a set of measures meant to ensure the safety of all the airports, ports and borders.
• The cell establishment came upon an order from the WHO which contacted all its representatives in the world.
• Vaccines expert M. Hocine told Echorouk the virus was transmitted from birds to pigs before it was turned into another deadly virus.
• “WHO experts are still not sure about the possibility of the virus transmission from man to man to determine the appropriate vaccine,” he added.
• “If Algeria is hit by the pandemic, it will not have any problem of vaccines because it is one of the first countries benefiting from vaccines as part of an agreement between Pasteur Institute and a French one.”