Swine Flu death toll climbs in Argentina. The number of death due to Swine Flu continues to rise in Argentina. President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner said she would not rule out closing major public places where the virus could spread more rapidly.
Swine flu has killed more people in Argentina than in any other country in South America, where the winter flu season has just began. The death rate of 1.6 percent is more than three times the world average according to the health minister of Buenos Aires Province.
The new health minister, Dr. Juan Manzur, said Friday that more than 40 people had already died from swine flu and that the country had 2,800 confirmed flu cases. The numbers reflected a sharp increase compared with a week earlier, when there were 26 deaths and 1,587 cases. Read more…
The World Health Organization is set to declare H1N1 virus as the first influenza pandemic in more than 40 years, triggering heightened health measures in the WHO’s 193 countries.
Flu experts were expected to recommend moving to the top phase 6 on the organization’s six-point scale. That would reflect the fact that the disease, also known as swine flu, was spreading geographically.
Britain’s Health Protection Agency chairman, David Heymann, said that the virus was tried to contain by countries through measures such as school closure. This procedure has extended the precious time needed to prepare for a full-blown pandemic. Read more…
GENEVA (AFP) – – The World Health Organisation on Friday began consulting its emergency committee of flu experts on the severity of the swine flu virus and possible travel recommendations.
However, the UN health agency was not expecting to make a decision on whether to declare a fully-fledged swine flu pandemic Friday, a WHO spokeswoman said, even though the body of scientists could recommend that it did so.
The agenda of the meeting was to discuss the “severity of H1N1 and also to review international health-related measures,” WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib said. Read more…
Department of Health Secretary Francisco Duque confirmed that the Philippines is now included in the list of countries with A(H1N1) virus.
A 10 year old girl who flew in with her parents last May 18, 2009 (Monday) was the first case of A(H1N1) in the Philippines said Duque.
The girl was able to pass through the thermal scanner. She started having fever May 19, 2009 with cough and sore throat. Her parents brought the girl to the hospital and after thorough examinations made by the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM), the girl was confirmed to be suffering from the virus. Read more…
