Kenyan health officials on Monday confirmed the first case of the A/H1N1 flu of a British student who is on a tour of western Kenya.

Public Health Minister Beth Mugo told a news conference in Nairobi on Monday that the east African nation has isolated 34 students from Britain in a hotel in Kisumu after one of them tested positive for A/H1N1 flu on Sunday.

"I wish now to inform Kenyans that this is the first case of confirmed Swine Flu (A/H1N1) diagnosed in Kenya and whose infection occurred in the United Kingdom. The patient has been quarantined at a hotel in Kisumu," the minister said.

She said the new case is different from a false suspect which had been reported over the weekend in Nairobi involving a Kenyan student studying in Britain.

Mugo said the 20-year-old British student who arrived in Kenya on June 21 and traveled to western Kenyan town of Kisumu by bus had developed a headache and joint pains.

The minister said the patient's girl friend who had been in close contact with him earlier in Britain called him last Wednesday from Nottingham and informed him that she had tested positive for Influenza A /H1N1.

She said confirmatory tests have been carried out at three different laboratories in accordance with the World Health Organization guidelines.

The three labs include that operated by Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI), a second one run by the U.S. Centers for disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and a third one operated by the National Influenza Center (NIC).

"The British national, who also happens to be a medical student, visited one of our facilities and samples were taken and brought to Nairobi on Sunday for testing. The sample was tested at the CDC and National Influenza Centre (NIC) laboratories in Nairobi. The sample tested positive," the minister said.

The minister said since the confirmation, health officers have been monitoring the student, noting that his condition was now stable and does not require hospitalization.

"Meanwhile, the ministry has quarantined the whole group of 30 students staying in a section of a Kisumu hotel. We have embarked on tracing any contacts that the student has made while in Kenya," she said.

"If any of the contacts will exhibit flu like symptoms, they will be tested and if found positive, they will be appropriately managed," Mugo said.

The minister called on the public to remain calm since her ministry and partners have put in place appropriate preventive measures.

On Saturday, a suspected case of A(H1N1) flu in Kenya tested negative after momentarily spreading panic across Nairobi.

Mugo told journalists on Saturday that tests conducted at the Kenya Medical Research Institute-based Center for Disease Control produced no traces of the A/H1N1 influenza virus.

In mid this month, the WHO raised the Pandemic alert status from phase 5 to phase 6, which meant that the disease had reached the emergency level.

According to the latest figures from the WHO website, there are 59,814 confirmed cases of the A/H1N1 around the world. 263 people have died of the disease.

At least four African countries in the sub-Saharan region have so far reported confirmed cases of the flu, namely South Africa, Ethiopia, Cote d'Ivoire and Kenya.

Source: Xinhua