Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has swine flu, and officials have advised other South American leaders who met with him at a summit of the infection, authorities said on Sunday.
Uribe began feeling symptoms on Friday, the same day as a meeting of South American presidents in Argentina, and was confirmed to have swine flu after returning home, Colombian Social Protection Minister Diego Palacio said.
“This isn’t something that has us scared,” Palacio said at a news conference.
Uribe, a key US ally in Latin America, is not considered a high-risk patient and will continue working from his computer, officials said.
Public health director Gilberto Alvarez said in a telephone interview that there was no need to put the president in isolation and that his condition would be monitored for three days to a week.
During a Union of South American Nations summit of the region’s presidents on Friday, Uribe spent hours defending his plan to give US troops more access to Colombian bases as part of his government’s fight against drug traffickers and leftist rebels. Many of his colleagues have voiced concerns about the idea.
Palacio said Colombia’s foreign ministry was informing governments whose leaders may have come in contact with Uribe.
No governments immediately reported cases of sick officials.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who attended the summit, said he felt fine and had been tested for swine flu after returning from another UNASUR summit in Ecuador earlier last month.
Alberto Cortez, an infectious disease specialist at Colombia’s Universidad Nacional, said it is possible the disease could have been passed to other leaders at the summit. But he added it needs to be established when Uribe became sick to determine whether he picked up the virus in Argentina — where there are many cases — or if he arrived there with the illness.
Uribe is the second Latin American leader to come down with the swine flu after Costa Rican President Oscar Arias announced he had swine flu on Aug. 11. He has recovered.
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