ISTANBUL - Turkey's health minister said on Saturday that officials managed to contact most of the people who had travelled on the same plane with the passenger infected by "Influenza A/H1N1" virus.
Health Minister Recep Akdag paid a visit to the crisis center set up after "swine flu" was detected on a U.S.-citizen passenger that landed at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport.
Akdag said that most of the travellers on the infected passenger's plane have been contacted thanks to the address information found on the declaration forms they had filled in during their flight.
"The passengers were contacted and they were given protective medication. They were also informed about the precautions they should take so as to protect themselves and their relatives," Akdag said.
Akdag also said that there were still a couple of passengers who could not be reached.
Turkish health minister said passengers of Dutch Airlines company KLM's May 14 dated flight from Amsterdam to Istanbul with the flight number 1613 should contact officials immediately by calling the emergency line "112".
Swine flu has been detected on a passenger who arrived in Istanbul from USA to transfer a flight to Iraq, officials said on Saturday.
The passenger first travelled from USA to Amsterdam, then transferred to a flight to Istanbul from the Dutch capital and was planning to proceed to Iraq, a written statement from the Turkish Health Ministry said early on Saturday.
Thermal cameras at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport detected that the passenger had high fever and tests run by national flu laboratories proved that the passenger was carrying the "Influenza A/H1N1" virus.
The infected passenger is currently under treatment at a hospital in Istanbul.