RTT

A new influenza virus was detected in Bulgaria. Yesterday, the National Reference Laboratory at the National Center for Infectious and Parasitic Diseases has demonstrated in four samples from the Sliven region a new strain of group B virus - "Victoria". Of the 300 samples tested, there were 100 positive results, indicating an epidemic spread.

Parents of children suffering from rare illnesses in Croatia say the Health Ministry's plan to gather money for expensive drugs through citizens' donations is failing.

A flu epidemic was announced  in the Pazardzhik region, according to bTV. The morbidity is 255 per 10,000 people.

Students will be in a flu vacation from 19 to 23 January inclusive. The peak of the flu is expected next week.

A check has shown that 30% of students in the area are ill.

Thy are suspected of being members of an organized crime group that is involved in cocaine smuggling.

According to the the MUP, the arrests were carried out in cooperation with the Organized Crime Prosecution, and came after an investigation that lasted nine months, during which the Serbian police worked with Australian authorities.

''Patients with flu continue to grow.  This means that for these 3-4 weeks of influenza epidemic maybe about 300-400,000 Bulgarians will be ill.'' This is what the chief state health inspector Angel Kunchev told BNT.

Drivers competing in the Dakar Rally were greeted with wreaths made of coca leaves, which help combat altitude sickness and are also used as the raw ingredient in cocaine, as they entered the Andean country of Bolivia on Jan. 11.

There is now a proven case of influenza from the Hong Kong strain - a woman in Rousse. The flu runs very hard, doctors say. Apart from this, many viruses fill the doctors' offices, Nova TV reports

Nine foreign backpackers, including five from France, were rushed to hospital in various states of “agitated delirium” after ingesting a travel sickness drug they mistook for cocaine and falling seriously ill, Australian authorities and reports said.

Patient and non-governmental organizations have again warned of the threatening consequences of re-export of medicines. According to their data, 59% of imported medicines from the European Union are exported back.

The peak of the flu is expected to be at the end of January - early February, the director of the National Center for Contagious and Parasitic Diseases Professor Todor Kantardzhiev told Nova TV.