World sees dramatic surge in swine flu deaths

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 19:33:31 GMT

The World Health Organization (WHO) announces a dramatic jump in the number of swine flu-related fatalities, adding that the past week has witnessed over 1,000 deaths.

Latest figures released by the WHO on Thursday revealed that the new H1N1 virus has claimed the lives of at least 7,826 individuals worldwide since its first appearance in April.

Officials reported a surge in the number of deaths in different parts of the world particularly the US and the Caribbean region over the past week.

The greatest peak was noted in Europe, where the toll reached 650, showing an 85 percent increase. The highest activity was reported in Sweden, Norway, Moldova and Italy.

The US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported some 554 deaths over the same period, bringing the death toll in the US, the country with the highest number of swine flu deaths, to 5,360.

While mutated strains of A/H1N1 were reported in China, Japan, Norway, Ukraine and the US, the only countries to report death in these cases were Norway and France.

"The question is whether these mutations suggest that there is a fundamental change going on in viruses out there - whether there's a turn for the worse in terms of severity," said the WHO special adviser on pandemic influenza, Keiji Fukuda, stressing that mutations are common in influenza viruses.

Despite the surge in the number of deaths, officials stressed that the disease has been mild in the majority of infected cases. Having an underlying disease was therefore considered as a risk factor leading to death in positive A/H1N1 cases.