Czech Republic’s chief hygiene officer “has swine flu”

The Czech Republic’s chief hygiene officer, Michael Vít, says he has probably caught the swine flu virus, the news website novinky.cz reported on Tuesday. Mr Vít said he had several symptoms of flu and was convinced it was swine flu. He had been vaccinated against regular flu, but not the H1N1 virus, saying he had planned to get a jab against the latter this week. On Monday the Czech government said that if there is an epidemic of swine flu it will be up to the chief hygiene officer to decide whether to introduce mandatory vaccinations for around 200,000 workers regarded as key to the functioning of the state.

Author: Ian Willoughby