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LIMA (AFP) – Peru on Sunday reported its first two swine flu fatalities and Uruguay and Paraguay saw their death tolls rise, as South America grappled with mounting cases and measures to contain the spread of the virus.
The American continent remains the world region worst affected by the A(H1N1) flu virus, which first appeared in Mexico in late April.
The virus, declared a global pandemic last month by the World Health Organization, has infected 89,921 people in 125 countries and territories and caused 382 deaths worldwide, according to the latest World Health Organization (WHO) figures.
But concerns have risen in South America in recent days, following the Argentine Health Ministry's estimate that some 100,000 people have contracted the A(H1N1) virus since the first case was discovered in the country in May.
Fifty-five people have died of swine flu there, but the ministry said 95 percent of those who were infected with the virus have recovered.
Peruvian Health Minister Oscar Ugarte said a 38-year-old woman died Friday after checking into a Lima hospital with pneumonia on June 29, when tests confirmed she had contracted the virus.
"She received standard antiviral treatment but unfortunately she died," Ugarte said.
The second death was of a four-year-old girl who had Down Syndrome and was admitted to hospital with severe respiratory problems. She died June 28, but laboratory results of her infection were confirmed only recently, Ugarte said.
The Andean nation has confirmed more than 810 A(H1N1) infections and has become the seventh South American country to report deaths linked to the virus.
The region, currently in the grips of winter, is being closely watched by health experts as it could be a harbinger of things to come north of the equator, when North America, Europe and much of Asia enter their winter at the end of the year.
All 13 South American nations except Guyana and French Guiana have reported swine flu cases.
The death toll meanwhile rose to four in Uruguay, where Health Minister Maria Julia Munoz warned that "there could be thousands" of A(H1N1) cases in the small country sandwiched between Argentina and Brazil.
There are presently 163 people hospitalized for swine flu in Uruguay, with 68 of them confirmed cases.
The virus has now become endemic in the country, and represented more than 50 percent of the number of seasonal flu cases, Munoz said.
In Paraguay, an eight-year-old girl with pneumonia became the country's second swine flu death, health officials confirmed Sunday.
"What's happening in Argentina is what we have to prevent," said Ernesto Weber of Paraguay's Social Welfare Institute, referring to the 55 deaths reported in Argentina, the highest death toll in South America.
Bolivia was considering a temporary closure of part of its 773-kilometer (480-mile) border with Argentina to help stem the spread of the disease, Health Minister Ramiro Tapia said Sunday.
He said the first step was to "double the number of doctors along this section of the border, because if we see that the (flu) cases are coming from Argentina, then we'll have to close the border for three, four or five days to prevent the spread of the virus."
Bolivia reported 393 swine flu infections as of Sunday, 74 more than the day before.
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