VZCZCXRO9067
RR RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHJO RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHSB #0618 2101014
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 291014Z JUL 09
FM AMEMBASSY HARARE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4762
RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS HARARE 000618 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: TBIO KFLU ECON EAGR PHUM ASEC PGOV PREL ZI
SUBJECT: ZIMBABWE H1N1 FLU: TWO CASES CONFIRMED 
 
¶1. (U) To date, only two cases of the H1N1 flu virus have been 
documented in Zimbabwe.  Both of these imported cases were 
contracted and confirmed by laboratories outside of Zimbabwe. 
 
¶2. (U) In one confirmed case, an Indian man contracted the disease 
outside Zimbabwe, probably in London, before returning home to 
Zimbabwe.  In another case, an 18-year-old Zimbabwean male 
contracted H1N1 while at a squash tournament in Cape Town, South 
Africa.  The squash player and several other young athletes who 
contracted the virus shared a water pipe while in Cape Town. 
 
¶3. (U) Zimbabwe lacks adequate testing capabilities for H1N1, as 
resources are divided between two laboratories in Harare and 
Bulawayo, leaving neither capable of testing for the virus.  The 
World Health Organization in Zimbabwe has adequate stocks of 
tamiflu. 
 
DHANANI