Victoria, Oct 13 (AFP) The Seychelles government orderedschools to close today, after the discovery of two suspectedcases of plague thought to have been brought from Madagascarwhere the disease has killed scores.
The health ministry has also put under surveillance 320people who have come into contact with the two patients.
A total of 12 people showing plague-like symptoms havebeen admitted to hospital and given antibiotics.
Panic gripped parents on the Indian Ocean archipelagoafter some students developed fevers in recent days, leadingto the school closures.
"We made this decision as a precautionary measure toreassure parents," said Merida Delcy, an adviser to theeducation ministry, noting that they would not reopen untilWednesday at the earliest.
Preliminary tests on the two people, including aSeychellois who returned from Madagascar a week ago, showedthey could have plague, the health ministry said.
"It has not yet been confirmed that the two people aresick due to plague, samples will be sent this weekend to theInstitut Pasteur (in France)," said public health commissionerJude Gedeon.
The results are expected next week.
The sick include a student at Anse Boileau ElementarySchool on the main island of Mahe where all students havesince been given antibiotics.
As fear of plague spreads, there has been a run onsurgical masks which people hope will offer protection againstthe highly infectious disease.
Plague outbreaks are common on Madagascar, 1,800kilometres to the south, where the disease is endemic. Butthis year both bubonic plague, spread by infected rats viaflea bites, and the pneumonic type, spread person-to-person,have hit urban areas, including the capital Antananarivo,leaving at least 54 dead.
A Seychellois basketball coach who was visitingMadagascar is among the victims. The Seychelles government hasbegun to quarantine people who have arrived from Madagascar inthe last week.
The latest Madagascar health ministry report this weeksays 500 cases and 54 deaths have so far been recorded, witharound half of each occurring in the capital. (AFP)RB.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.