VZCZCXRO6075
PP RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHNP RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSK RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHBS #0748 1491522
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 291522Z MAY 09
FM AMEMBASSY BRUSSELS
TO RUEAUSA/DEPT OF HHS WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHPH/CDC ATLANTA GA PRIORITY
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9005
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS BRUSSELS 000748 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR OES/IHB 
STATE PASS USTR JANE DOHERTY 
STATE PASS USAID 
STATE PASS HHS/NIH 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KFLU AEMR ASEC AMED CASC KFLO TBIO KSAF KPAO PREL
PINR, AMGT, TF, BE 
SUBJECT: BELGIUM:  H1N1: NINTH AND TENTH CASES REPORTED; 
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CLOSED AS PRECAUTION 
 
REF: BRUSSELS 728 
 
 ¶1.  Belgian health authorities announced via a May 29 press 
release that two new cases of H1N1 had been confirmed in 
Belgium, bringing the country's total number of positive 
cases to ten.  The ninth case involves a 10-year old boy from 
Tervuren, a town close to Brussels, who had returned on 
Sunday, May 24 with his family from a vacation in the United 
States; case 10 involves a 30-year old man from Brussels who 
came back to Belgium on May 28 from New York.  The man is now 
in Brussels' Saint Pierre hospital for treatment, but the 
child, whose symptoms are mild according to a person at the 
Government's influenza hotline contacted by the Embassy on 
May 29, is receiving treatment at home with his family.  The 
school which the 10-year attends (located in the village of 
Moorsel, a neighborhood or borough of Tervuran, has been 
closed until June 2 as a precaution, with families being 
asked to remain at thome to watch their children for 
symptoms.  Health authorities are closely monitoring the 
situation.  All students from the child's class as well as 
his teachers are taking antiviral medication as of the 
evening of May 28, and so far the families of 258 out of the 
268 students at the school have been contacted by health 
authorities to be made aware of the situation, although they 
are not being treated with antivirals.  The child had no 
symptoms when he returned from the United States, and 
attended school on May 25 and 26, falling ill with flu 
symptoms on May 27 and thus did not attend school that day or 
the next.  The child's positive test result came back on the 
evening of May 28, prompting the authorities to act. 
 
¶2.  Regarding the tenth case, the man in question had had 
contact with only one person since his return; that person is 
receiving antivirals. 
 
BUSH