Ghanaian health officials have confirmed that four students died of swine flu following an outbreak of the disease at a high school in the second city, Kumasi.
According to the Health Minister Kwaku Agyemang Manu, a total of 12 out of 19 students at the Kumasi Academy School tested positive for the H1N1 virus, an acute respiratory infection.
Initially, the ministry suspected an outbreak of meningitis after more than 40 students complained of fever-like conditions. They were rushed to various hospitals in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region.
It caused panic and parents stopped sending their children to school, especially after the deaths of the four.
Tests by a research medical institute showed that the students died of the swine flu virus.
The health minister ordered that the students who were sent home to immediately return so as to be vaccinated.
The health minister has also assured that no new cases have been reported despite fears that the disease could spread.
Officials have urged parents to send their children back to school.
The World Health Organization says the Influenza A (H1N1) virus emerged in 2009 and it is transmitted through the respiratory system mainly through droplets disseminated by unprotected coughs and sneezes.
Its symptoms include fever with abrupt onset, chills, sore throat, non-productive cough and, often accompanied by headache, coryza, myalgia and prostration.
