» 10/17/2009 12:51 ASIA WHO, nearly 5 thousand deaths from new flu. Washington denounces delays in vaccines The World Health Organization reports nearly 400 thousand infected, but the number could be higher. Beijing confirms a second victim to the new flu. Alarm for children and young people in the United States: so far H1N1 has cost nearly twice as many victims as seasonal flu.
Beijing (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Since last April, H1N1 has killed 4735 people, those infected are almost 400 thousand in the whole world, but the number could be much higher because many countries do not regularly report individual cases. This according to the World Health Organization (WHO) which released updated data to 11 October. The alert for the swine flu remains high.China has confirmed a second official victim and in the United States it appears to be affecting children and young people with greater force, while alarm bells are sounding over the late delivery of vaccines.
Beijing has confirmed a second death from H1N1, after the death of a girl of 18 in Lhasa - Tibet - on 6 October. The victim is a 43 year old woman in the north-western province of Qinghai, but authorities do not want to provide additional information. In China the number of infections reached 26,348 cases, of which 13 are still in critical condition. In Tibet - where the first death occurred - controversy is mounting among over a lack of radio and television broadcasts in the Tibetan language, with useful information to prevent or limit the spread of the virus.
The pandemic seems to be spreading with increased incidence in the temperate northern hemisphere of the planet. The largest number of cases has been recorded in the Americas, with 3406 deaths and 153,697 cases of infection. South-east Asia follows second, with 530 deaths out of 39,522 cases of infection. Third for the number of deaths is the Western Pacific region, with 432 dead and 118,702 cases of infection. In Europe so far 207 deaths and more than 61 thousand cases of infection and finally the eastern Mediterranean and Africa, with 90 and 70 deaths each.
Washington, meanwhile, has sounded the alarm over the high incidence of deaths among children and young people. The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 86 children have died 43 of them between September and the first half of October. A level much higher than a normal flu that usually kills between 40 and 50 children over the entire span of the season. U.S. health authorities complain of delays in the delivery of vaccines against H1N1: by the end of the month 28/30 million doses will only be available, compared to the 40 million first forecast.
