Columbian President Announces He Has Swine Flu

Columbian President Alvaro Uribe has come down with the swine flu, and officials in the country are now contacting other South American officials whose leaders attended a recent summit with Uribe.

Uribe began feeling symptoms on Friday, the same day he attended a meeting of South American presidents in Bariloche, Argentina. On Saturday, the 57-year-old leader was confirmed to have the H1N1 virus. He is not considered to be a high risk patient, and is not being quarantined. None of his family or close associations have experienced symptoms.

Uribe had spent the day Friday defending a plan that would give US troops access to Columbian bases as a parto f the war on drugs during a UNASUR group summit which was attended by most presidents in the region.

He is the second Latin American leader ot have contracted the swine flu. Costa Rican President Oscar Arias announced earlier this month that he had the swine flu. The 69-year-old was quarantined and recovered.

Columbia has had 621 confirmed cases of swine flu, with 31 deaths.