Swine flu kills three in Istanbul

Three people have died from swine flu over the past three days at a hospital in Istanbul.

A man identified as Sabri Ö., 57, who was taken to the Lütfi K?rdar Training and Research Hospital in Istanbul's Kartal district upon complaints of a respiratory tract infection and high body temperature 10 days ago, died on Jan. 8 at the hospital located on Istanbul's Asian side after being treated for swine flu symptoms.

The other two people, identified as Remziye T. and Mustafa C.A., died at the same hospital in the evening of Jan. 9, bringing the total death toll of swine flu over a three-day period covering Jan. 8, 9 and 10 to three. 

Remziye T., a 46-year-old woman, came to the hospital's emergency service on Jan. 6 complaining of a 39.1 degrees Celsius temperature and shortness of breath. She showed swine flu symptoms and her test results were sent to Ankara for further details. The woman lost her life around 11 p.m. on Jan. 9.

Eighty-seven-year-old Mustafa C.A. came to the hospital complaining about the same symptoms and was taken to an intense care unit. The elderly man died around 8 p.m. on Jan. 9.

A 44-year-old man identified as Volkan B., meanwhile, was reported to be treated over the same symptoms in an intensive care unit at the hospital.

Turkish Health Minister Mehmet Müezzino?lu said on Jan. 9 that there was no need for panic, reporting that only two people dying from the swine flu virus, properly known as H1N1.

"The number of patients who died solely because of swine flu has so far been only two, but the number of cases in which we diagnosed swine flu in people who also have problems such as kidney failure, cardiovascular diseases and immune system failure, which are triggered by H1N1, has been 12....