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An electron microscope image shows an A H1N1 "swine flu" virus culture obtained from a California patient suffering from the international flu outbreak - Source: Reuters -
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The Czech Republic's chief health officer has caught the disease he is fighting on a national scale - the H1N1 flu.
Michael Vit tells the online version of daily Hospodarske Noviny he had suffered from fever of up to 39 degrees Celsius, and has been in bed since Saturday.
Vit says he believes he has the H1N1 version of flu, but would likely not seek laboratory confirmation.
"More than 90 percent of flu in our country is caused by the pandemic, the so-called swine-flu virus, so it is probable that this is my case as well," a Web site quoted him as saying.
Vit is the key person coordinating response to the virus, which has killed about 95 people in the central European country of 10.5 million.
Vit, in charge of ordering vaccinations for key public personnel, says he himself did not get a vaccination because he was outside the country when the programme was underway. He was supposed to be vaccinated in the coming days.
The Czech Republic has bought 1 million H1N1 vaccines from GlaxoSmithKline but very few people have taken the vaccine.
President Vaclav Klaus had strongly opposed across-the-board vaccinations of army personnel until the government dropped the plan this week.
