Health Ministry

BAGHDAD October 15, 2009 – Raad Bader al-Muhssin, 41, worked as a gardener for more than 20 years, during which he used to make no more than $4 dollars per day.

After the 2003 US invasion and the ensuing violence, life became harder as the number of clients requesting his services nosedived.

Adding insult to the injury was the recent discovery that his wife had cancer.

Thus, when he was offered $12,000 dollars for one of his kidney he did not hesitate or have second thoughts.

"I never had more than $100 dollars in my pocket at the end of the month, even if I didn’t spend one cent from my salary," Muhssin told IslamOnline.net.

Five people have died after being vaccinated against seasonal influenza since the nation’s health authority began providing free shots on the first day of this month.

Yesterday, an 80-year-old woman died slightly more than one hour after receiving the seasonal flu shot in Ulsan, according to the public health center in the northern part of the port city. On her way from the center in the morning, she experienced a breathing problem and fell to the ground, her daughter-in-law reported.

SINGAPORE has reported its first patient infected with the new A(H1N1) flu strain.

The patient is a 22-year-old third year Business Management student at Singapore Management University. She had been in New York from May 14 to 24 on a business study mission with 19 other students and the faculty in-charge.

While seated in row 55 on Singapore Airlines flight SQ25, she began to develop a cough, but she passed the thermal scanner at the airport later without being stopped, because she did not have a fever at the time.

Later that morning, she went to a general practitioner who decided to send her to Tan Tock Seng Hospital via the special ambulance service 993 meant for suspected Influenza A (H1N1) cases. Laboratory test confirmed her infection at midnight on Tuesday.

MANAMA: A Bahraini student has tested positive for swine flu, it was revealed late last night. The 21-year old, who had recently returned from New York in the US, was confirmed as Bahrain's first case of the deadly H1N1 virus, a day after he had been cleared by Health Ministry specialists. Ministry public relations director Adel Ali Abdulla said the student was retested with new equipment and testing kits which arrived in Bahrain in the last 24 hours. "He is now in isolation at Salmaniya Medical Complex (SMC) and is being treated with Tamiflu," he said. "He is responding positively and his body composition is strong. We are sure he will recover fully," said Mr Abdulla.