Swine flu kills Ecuador Security Chief

ECUADOR: Ecuadoran President Rafael Corrrea’s chief of security died after battling the swine flu for weeks, officials said Monday.

Air Force Lieutenant Colonel John Merino was first hospitalized with a case of the A(H1N1) virus on August 10, and died late Sunday in the Hospital Militar, according to a brief government statement.

The swine flu has killed at least 44 people in Ecuador, according to Health Ministry data. The virus also affected a cabinet minister, Ricardo Patino, and a member of the presidential security force.

Correa himself was under medical observation for a week, but doctors determined that he had not contracted the disease, officials said.

Separately, the president of neighboring Colombia, Alvaro Uribe, was back at work Monday after being in isolation for one week after contracting the A(H1N1) virus. Uribe, smiling and apparently healthy, was seen shaking hands with several business leaders at a meeting at the president’s office, according to government pictures.

Uribe contracted the flu after returning from a summit of South American leaders in Argentina on August 28.

Other senior Colombian officials who came down with the flu include High Commissioner for Peace Frank Pearl; the head of Uribe’s security, General Flavio Buitrago; and the head of Civil Aeronautics, Fernando Sanclemente.

As of late Sunday authorities said that the swine flu had killed 43 people in Colombia.

Uribe however was not the first Latin American president to contract the swine flu: that honor belongs to Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, who recovered after a week of isolation that ended August 25. AFP