2009 swine flu pandemic in Costa Rica

On April 28 Costa Rica became the first Central American country to report the outbreak of the virus, with a confirmed infection.

Three are listed as probable cases, while one was duly confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States.

[9] Since April 29, the Ministry of Health recommended avoiding travel to Mexico, Canada, and the U.S. as the number of confirmed cases by local authorities reached eight.

[16] On July 21 the Ministry of Health, in agreement with the Catholic Church, and to prevent a massive contagion, prohibited the traditional pilgrimage to the Basílica de Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles (Our Lady of the Angels Basilica), patroness of catholic Costa Ricans.

[17] Health authorities estimate the risk of contagion in 20,000 people, as around two million pilgrims would have participated in this traditional religious event.

[2] The Ministry of Health received confirmation on May 8 from the Centers for Disease Control of seven cases of infection with influenza A/H1N1 virus.

[18][19] Out of the seven remaining cases confirmed by the U.S. Center for Disease Control, three were children infected by the patient who died, and their condition never was critical.

[20] Costa Rica became the fourth country in the world, after Mexico, the United States and Canada to confirm fatalities related to the influenza virus A (H1N1).

[22] A third patient died on June 29, a 55-year-old man who presented chronic obstructive pulmonary disease due to smoking.

[2] From all deceased patients, 47.3% occurred among San José residents, and only the Guanacaste Province has not had any deaths related to the virus.

[2] Until early September, the most frequent risk factors presented by the deceased patients are obesity (36.4%), diabetes (18.2%), asthma (18.2%), pregnancy (9.1%) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (6.1%).