Swine flu in Algeria: Ennahar visits the family of the 1st victim

Algiers - A few days after the appearance of H1N1 virus in Algeria, Ennahar visits the family of the first victim of the influenza virus.

• Upon the announcement of the four cases of the virus is H1N1 of swine influenza in Algeria Ennahar began searching for the addresses of these people. The task was not easy, for the simple reason that they were kept secret. Despite this, we could have these addresses and have made visits to the domicile of the victims of Swine influenza.
  
  The first victim is a close relative Professor Lyès Zerhouni.
  
  We headed to the home of the first victim of swine influenza (H1N1), located in the ‘Sources’, a chic neighbourhood in Bir Mourad Rais in Algiers. Arrived at the luxurious villa, we have declined our identity via the intercom and someone has opened. It was the victim's father, ‘El Hadj’ Zerhouni, a retired engineer. He refuses to talk to us in the beginning but we were able to convince him that our goal was just to know how they live this situation.
  
  The father of the victim of swine influenza told us that his daughter, aged 40, returned last Wednesday from Miami, Florida with her two children for a holiday in Algeria, while her parents were in the United States of America. The latter was well on her arrival. Two days later, the symptoms began to appear.
  
  On the third day, it was Friday; the parents came from the USA and found their daughter and her son Rayan 9 years in this state. He then immediately contacted the hotline put into service for this purpose. El Hadj said that at the airport, he had been given a paper on which there was the number.
  
  Mr Zerhouni said that the medical team had shown great professionalism and asked him not to leave his home, but he preferred to carry himself the sick persons in his own car to ‘El Kettar’ hospital, where a Medical team had supported his family members, then all those who have been in contact with the patients including neighbours and friends.
  
  Furthermore, according to sources close to the family of the sick, the woman with H1N1 virus of swine influenza would be a relative of Lyès Zerhouni, chairman of the National Institutes of Health in the United States of America.
  
  The victim refused treatment in France and has confidence in the Algerian doctors. Her father El Hadj Zerhouni said that the morale of the whole family was very good. Everyone is sure that the patients are in good hands.
  
  The neighbours are not worried
  
  
  We left the Zerhounis and went to see the neighbours. Madam Ratiba, professor at the university, knows very well the Zerhounis. She says she heard the news in the press and she was sorry but was not worried because, she says, the patient begins to heal. Zerhouni family is highly respected by all neighbours, including the father of the patient who is a friend of her husband to whom he makes visits occasionally.
  
  Ennahar / Sami Si Yusuf
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