In Brief
MYOCARDITIS
Growing number of cases prompts warning of epidemic A prominent epidemiologist yesterday warned of an epidemic after a fifth person was diagnosed with myocarditis on Saturday following the death of two people in Crete and another case in Ioannina from a virus triggering the inflammatory disease of the heart. Harvard University Professor Dimitrios Trichopoulos told Mega Channel yesterday: «Once we have an increasing number of cases and fatalities, we have an epidemic.» But doctors at the Iraklion hospital in Crete said the latest case of a 33-year-old woman, diagnosed with myocarditis was not worrying as there was no proof her condition had been caused by the virus. The results of tests to identify the virus are due in the next few days. IMMIGRANTS 57 Kurds, 2 Poles detained A group of 57 Kurdish migrants were yesterday detained on the Aegean island of Syros after the sailing boat, the Aphrodite, on which they were being transported by two Polish nationals was spotted drifting suspiciously off the coast of Andros late on Saturday night. The migrants and crew were escorted by port authorities to nearby Syros, where the Aphrodite’s captains – Jacek Pokanski, 35, and Ryszard Rakowski, 49 – will face a Syros prosecutor. Elderly depression More than 200,000 elderly Greeks suffer from depression whose symptoms include sleeplessness, excessive fatigue and negative thoughts sometimes leading to suicidal tendencies, researchers revealed yesterday at the 17th National Psychiatric Conference in the northern town of Kallithea, Halkidiki. Psychiatric techniques can successfully treat 90 percent of the elderly who suffer from depression, experts said. Robbery ring A group of four Albanian nationals with forged IDs – believed to be behind a spate of armed robberies in southeastern Attica – was broken on Saturday after police arrested two members of the ring in connection with an armed raid on a jewelry store in the suburb of Vravrona earlier this month. Brothers Constantinos and Eleftherios Koutroulis were bound and gagged before the robbers made off with 30,000 euros worth of jewelry and watches on April 14. Ervin Uzeiri, 22, and Leonard Ademi, 25, faced a prosecutor on Saturday. French Transport Ministry in cooperation with Greek Transport Ministry organize a conference on «Urban Transport: the French Experience.» At Metropolitan hotel. For further information, tel 010.724.0517.
