Ecuador’s Minister of Health Carina Vance announced 50 cases of AH1N1 infection have been discovered in the country, but denies that there is an epidemic. 

In May, 17 people died during an H1N1 outbreak in Venezuela. So far this year, 34 H1N1 deaths have been reported in Colombia.

Minister Vance said two patients who were being treated for H1N1 in the public hospital in Ambato died between July 9 and 14. There are 23 people under observation for the disease in that city.

Lorena Velasco, provincial director of health in Tungurahua, says visits to health clinics are being restricted and people now must wear face masks when they enter hospitals.

Two people in Chimborazo were diagnosed with H1N1 last week. They were transferred from a hospital in Riobamba to one in Quito.

Gladys Mera, the Ministry of Health’s director for Zone 3, says the two patients who transferred to Quito are in stable condition after receiving correct treatment. Mera says “Weve examined their families and they are disease-free.”

In Cotopaxi, authorities are aware of nine people with flu-like symptoms. The first female patient who died in the Ambato hospital of H1N1 was originally from Cotopaxi.

Original story