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Afghan swine flu toll rises to 11: minister

Serbia again extends school holidays over swine flu
Belgrade (AFP) Nov 9, 2009 - Serbian authorities decided on Monday to further extend the autumn school holidays to next Monday in a bid to curtail an outbreak of swine flu, the education ministry said in a statement. "Education Minister Zarko Obradovic, in agreement with epidemiologists who have been following the situation with the flu caused by the A(H1N1) virus and the Health Ministry decided to additionally prolong the school holidays" until November 16, the statement said.

"By doing so, further spread of the flu among the school-aged population should be stopped," it added. It was the second extension after Obradovic last week had declared that school holidays would continue until November 11. The decision came as Serbia reported seven deaths linked to swine flu and 254 confirmed cases of people infected with the virus, but the actual number of flu cases is feared to be much higher. The health ministry was expected to declare a nationwide epidemic later this week.

Latvia reports first swine flu death
Riga (AFP) Nov 9, 2009 - Latvia on Monday reported its first swine flu death in a woman who developed respiratory problems linked to the virus, health officials said. The woman died in hospital on Monday, said a spokeswoman at the Pauls Stradins University Hospital in Riga. The country's epidemiology centre confirmed it was Latvia's first death due to the A(H1N1) virus. Jazeps Keiss, the centre's interim director, told a press conference that the woman caught the virus during a visit to the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad at the end of October. "She fell ill after her return. It's clear that she became infected in Kaliningrad as it corresponds to the incubation period for this (type of) flu," Keiss said. On Friday, World Health Organisation data showed the number of swine flu deaths had grown by more than 370 over a week to pass 6,000, as the pandemic spread into more than 199 countries and territories.
by Staff Writers
 Kabul (AFP) Nov 9, 2009
 Afghanistan's death toll from swine flu has risen to 11, the health minister said Monday, after the World Health Organization (WHO) reported the virus gaining intensity in the poverty-stricken nation.

"So far, we have 11 people who have died from this disease in the country. All have been Afghans," Sayed Mohammad Amin Fatemi told reporters.

He said nearly 780 people were infected with the (A)H1N1 virus, almost half of them foreigners. These include international soldiers who are based in the country to help the government fight an insurgency.

On November 1, the Afghan government closed all schools for three weeks after the country's first swine flu death, disrupting the education of nearly seven million students.

Last week the WHO said the pandemic was gaining intensity in Afghanistan as well as Mongolia, Oman, and Japan. It has spread to more than 199 countries and territories and killed more than 6,000, mostly in the Americas, the WHO said.

The WHO also highlighted signs of "increasing and active transmission" of pandemic influenza virus across Northern and Eastern Europe, including Ukraine and Belarus, as well as in eastern Russia.

The Afghan minister said his country did not have vaccinations for swine flu but the WHO was expected to provide the medicine soon.

Vaccinations against A(H1N1) influenza have started in more than 20 countries and are safe, according to the WHO, which has insisted on the value of inoculation despite the broadly mild symptoms of A(H1N1).

The minister also said the government would Tuesday launch the final phase of an anti-polio vaccination campaign. More than seven million children below the age of five would receive the vaccine, he said.

Afghanistan is one of four countries, along with Nigeria, Pakistan and India, where the crippling disease is still endemic.

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