Post Staff Writer
 An Italian soldier raises the Italian flag during the opening ceremony of a joint Ukraine-Italy military exercise at the Yavorivsky military base in Lviv oblast, Sept. 6. The ammunition used in the maneuver has been blamed for sicknesses in the area. (Photo: UNIAN) |
Flu season is fast approaching, as some residents around the town of Yavoriv in Lviv oblast were reminded recently. Panic enveloped the oblast�s western region when 400 residents reported ill to doctors in just a few days in late September and early October. |
Hundreds of people, mostly children, from the villages of Verblyany, Koty, Dubrovytsya and Starychi began coughing and complaining of sore throats on Sept. 24. Officials say a nearby military base was blamed for the outbreak.
Their fear was blown out of proportion, said Health Ministry officials, who stressed that flu-like viruses are prone to outbreaks at this time of the year.
�In total, less than one percent of the people who went to the doctor had come down with something serious,� said an official in the Health Ministry in Kyiv, who wished to remain unnamed. She added: �There was never a need to panic. It�s the fall. The weather gets colder and, naturally, people get the flu.�
There was no reason to suspect that military maneuvers in the area were to blame for the illnesses, she added.
The exercises, which began Sept. 6, were part of �Prykarpattya 2003,� a joint Ukrainian-Italian maneuver scheduled to end Oct. 15. On Sept. 29, hundreds of people from the affected villages blocked the road leading to the Yavorivsky military installation. They demanded that military officials say what type of ammunition they were using in their exercises, claiming it was making their children ill.
The picketers prevented the Italian military from performing their exercises for a few days. Scuffles between the Ukrainian military and local villagers were reported, with one local man reportedly being sent to the hospital with a broken collar bone.
The protestors� allegations were denied by defense and health officials.
�When [the villagers] found out that there were military exercises happening in the area, they thought they could maybe get some sort of compensation,� speculated the Health Ministry official.
�There is no link to the military,� she added. �No radiation is being used, and they are not using chemical weapons. The threat from the army base is purely psychological.�
�A few� soldiers in the Italian armed forces were being treated for influenza-type viruses as well, she said. After testing, the Health Ministry confirmed that at least 13 of the children had antigens for type-A influenza virus in their blood.
The Health Ministry official said that as of Oct. 14, fewer than 10 children were being treated for various ailments.