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An elderly Baltimore metro area resident with serious underlying medical conditions and a novel H1N1 influenza virus infection has died.
According to the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH). Among other complications, H1N1 flu was a contributing factor, making this Maryland's first death confirmed to be associated with the novel flu strain. Personal details about the case, including specific underlying health conditions, will not be released to protect the privacy of the resident and the resident's family.
NEW YORK (AP) - Two more swine flu deaths have been confirmed in New York City, bringing the total to 32 since the outbreak began in April.
The Health Department posted the updated total on its Web site Tuesday.
The city has refused to release details on swine flu victims. The only information released on the two newest deaths was that they were people between the ages of 25 and 65.
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* Expert sees autumn risk in northern hemisphere
* Merkel says Germany is prepared, coordinating with others
BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's federal agency for infectious diseases said on Tuesday there were signs the H1N1 swine flu virus had started to mutate and warned it could spread in the coming months in a more aggressive form.
Experts were concerned about how the flu was developing in Australia and South America, said Joerg Hacker, head of the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases
The woman died today at UCD Medical Center after being hospitalized with the H1N1 virus, according to Sacramento County Public Health Officer Glennah Trochet, M.D.
A 52-year-old woman who died at an Ottawa hospital is the first death linked to the H1N1 virus in eastern Ontario.
Health officials say the woman had pre-existing medical conditions and it is unclear what role the virus played in her death.
More to come . . .
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Hartford – The Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH) today announced the state’s fifth death linked to infection with the novel H1N1 virus. The person, a Hartford County resident, was in the 50 – 59 year old age group and had underlying medical conditions. The person died recently after hospitalization.
BAYONNE, N.J. - The New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services announced on Tuesday a fifth death of a New Jersey resident with novel H1N1 influenza.
The individual was a 79-year old Hudson County woman, who died on Friday, June 19 in Bayonne Medical Center.
She became ill on Monday, June 15, and was hospitalized later that same day with cough and fever. She had underlying medical conditions.
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Malvinas Argentinas hospital, located in the province of Buenos Aires, will be evacuated to concentrate on all the H1N1 virus´pacients on that province.
The announcement was made this evening by the minister of provincial Health, Claudio Zin, in a press conference, who said that the chosen hospital is provided with hundreds of beds to take care of all the people who have the illness.
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Contrary to the popular assumption that the new swine flu pandemic arose on factory farms in Mexico, federal agriculture officials now believe that it most likely emerged in pigs in Asia, but then traveled to North America in a human.
But they emphasized that there was no way to prove their theory and only sketchy data underpinning it.
There is no evidence that this new virus, which combines Eurasian and North American genes, has ever circulated in North American pigs, while there is tantalizing evidence that a closely related “sister virus” has circulated in Asia.
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An increasing number of cats and dogs are infected with MRSA—the antibiotic resistant "superbug" created by English people's aversion to washing themselves. However, it seems that the animals are catching the infection from their human owners, rather than other animals, so I guess that's good. Or is it? As someone who spent the day with a vomiting cat I'm not sure how to feel about all of this. I'm gonna settle on "concerned."
A man diagnosed with swine flu after he died had waited up to three hours for an intensive care hospital bed the day of his death because none were available in Victoria, his parents say.
Victorian health authorities say the man, 35-year-old Anthony Splatt of the western district town of Colac, tested positive to the influenza A(H1N1) virus but will not say whether it caused his death.
Anthony Splatt went to Colac Hospital with flu-like symptoms on Friday and was transferred to Maroondah Hospital in Melbourne's outer east, where he died on Saturday.
Test results released on Tuesday show he had tested positive for swine flu after swabs were taken following his death.
His parents, Brian and Judith Splatt, say their critically ill son waited at the Colac Hospital for three hours for an intensive care bed, which was eventually found at Maroondah Hospital.
"His poor GP was pacing the floor in Colac because he was getting sicker and sicker," Ms Splatt, a nurse, told the Herald Sun newspaper.
Mr Splatt said: "There were no beds in Victoria. It seemed like forever (before a bed was found). We hope in a way his death makes more intensive care beds available."
Victoria's acting chief health officer Rosemary Lester said Anthony Splatt had a range of underlying medical conditions.
She would not confirm whether his death was a direct result of swine flu or one of the other medical conditions.
"I'm obviously not the clinician - that's for the clinicians to decide what he's died from," Dr Lester said.
"My information is that it is respiratory failure but other than that I can't make any comment."
Dr Lester said the man received treatment consistent with the symptoms of his severe illness.
"He wouldn't have been treated any differently if we'd known that he had swine flu from the outset.
"He arrived with an influenza-like illness and then, I believe, he rapidly deteriorated.
"His respiratory function deteriorated and he went into shock quite quickly."
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So it's official. The authorities have given up the fight. We're to lie back and think of England as the dastardly swine ravages us all.
Even though upwards of 200 of us are likely to die - in the first wave anyway - all officialdom is offering is an 0800 free phone, and some Tamiflu anti-viral drugs left over from the bird flu scare a few years back.
As I heard a not-so-muffled cough rattle around the bus yesterday morning, I didn't feel very much part of the 21st century. I want drugs and vaccines in return for all the taxes I pay, but all I get is advice to blow my nose in a tissue then store it securely in a plastic bag.
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A 6-year-old Brampton girl with swine flu died only a day after she began showing flu-like symptoms.
The child, who attended Roberta Bondar Public School, passed away a week ago and it was only discovered after she died that she had the H1N1 influenza virus.
The exact cause of death has not yet been determined, but the virus is known to have been a contributing factor, Dr. Arlene King, Ontario's chief medical officer of health, told a news conference yesterday.
The child got a fever and began vomiting on Sunday, June 14, and died the following day. An autopsy was performed and lab results revealed last Friday she did indeed have the virus. She is the fourth Ontarian with the virus to die.
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With this new technology, known as recombinant influenza vaccine, a gene would be extracted from a flu virus and placed into an insect virus called baculovirus, which does not affect people and can multiply quickly to high levels in insect cells. The cells are purified to become a basic part of a human vaccine.
8:15 pm - Swine Flu: The total number of dead people is 17 in Argentina.
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Argentine officials say seven more people have died of swine flu and public hospitals will delay some surgeries to focus on respiratory illnesses during the South American winter.
The Health Ministry says Argentina's swine flu death toll is now 17, more than any other nation in South America.
All the deaths have been in Buenos Aires or its outskirts.
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Oregon's second death from novel H1N1 (swine) influenza confirmed in Marion County
Public health authorities confirmed today that a young child in Marion County with novel H1N1 infection has died. The child, who had no known underlying medical conditions and a two-day history of fever, passed away on June 15. The case was confirmed Tuesday by the Oregon State Public Health Laboratory.
June 23 (Bloomberg) -- The pandemic sparked by swine flu may be as severe as the Hong Kong flu of 1968-69 that cost an estimated 0.7 percent of global gross domestic product, according to the World Bank.
The new H1N1 flu strain might reduce second-quarter GDP by as much as 2.2 percent in Mexico if disruptions to businesses, including those in the restaurant, hotel and transportation industries, persist in the Mexico City region, the Washington- based lender said.
Transmission of the bug is likely to accelerate as the flu season begins in the Southern Hemisphere and again when it returns in the Northern Hemisphere, the bank said in a report released yesterday. As many as 1.5 million people die in a normal flu season worldwide, and even a mild new flu might add another 1.4 million deaths, the report said.
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TORONTO - Authorities say four more Canadians have died after contracting swine flu.
The deaths bring to 20 the number of people to die across the country after getting the H1N1 virus.
A teenage boy from Ottawa who had underlying chronic health problems is one of two more Ontario residents who have died after getting swine flu.
Lab tests have also confirmed that a 52-year-old woman from eastern Ontario died after contracting the virus, but it wasn't clear what role it may have played in her death.
Officials say the woman also had chronic pre-existing medical conditions.
Health officials in Quebec say two other people in the province have died after getting swine flu but no other details were immediately available.
There have been more than 2,650 confirmed cases of swine flu in Ontario - and more than 5,700 across Canada - but most are considered mild with symptoms very similar to an annual seasonal flu.
OTTAWA — Federal officials spent days debating whether to send hand sanitizers to First Nations communities struggling with swine flu outbreaks because of their alcohol content, a Senate committee heard Tuesday.
Hand sanitizers were among the supplies in nursing stations on some of the reserves that have been hard-hit by the illness, but chiefs wanted it available in the wider community because many homes lack running water. Frequent hand washing with soap and water as a protective measure against the spread of the swine flu, also called the H1N1 virus, was therefore not an option for those residents
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