Second wave of A/H1N1 flu in Ukraine could come in late 2009-early 2010, says Health Ministry

11:30

Ukraine's Deputy Chief Sanitary Doctor Liudmyla Mukharska has forecast that a second wave of the A/H1N1 flu in the country could come in December 2009 or January 2010, while a third one could be seen in next autumn.

She said this at a teleconference on fighting the epidemic of flu and acute respiratory infections in Ukraine, which was chaired by Health Minister Vasyl Kniazevych, the Health Ministry's press service reported on Wednesday.

The participants in the teleconference said that the situation with flu and acute respiratory infections in Ukraine was stabilizing last week and that over 1.4 million patients had been registered over the period.

Over 75,000 people have been hospitalized over the period of the flu epidemic, nearly 48,000 have been discharged from hospitals, and the epidemic threshold is not currently exceeded in five regions, the press service said.

As of Tuesday evening, the death toll from flu and acute respiratory infections in Ukraine has grown to 328.

One hundred and sixty-six cases of the pandemic A/H1N1 flu were laboratory-confirmed, and 15 people have died of swine flu.