Jul 21, 2009 11:00 am US/Central
Swine Flu Deaths Hit 700 Globally; 263 In U.S.
Track The H1N1, Or Swine Flu, Virus: CDC | WHO
GENEVA (CBS) ―
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A fan try to see the match between Cruz Azul and Indios being played in an empty stadium on May 2, 2009, in Mexico City, Mexico.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
The worldwide death toll from swine flu has doubled in the past month,
reaching over 700 since the start of the outbreak last spring, the
World Health Organization said Tuesday. According to the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, at least 263 have died from the virus
in the United States alone.
The
CDC's latest estimates put the number of confirmed and probable cases of the swine flu is 40,617, with the greatest number of cases diagnosed in Wisconsin (6031), Texas (4975) and Illinois (3357).
The U.N. health agency also said it is examining how countries can tackle the expected explosion in cases predicted this fall, when students and workers in the northern hemisphere return from summer vacation.
Closing schools can help break the chain of swine flu transmission, though at risk of considerable economic cost, the British medical journal The Lancet reported Tuesday. The study is to be published in next month's edition.
"School closures is one of the mitigation measures that could be considered by countries," WHO spokeswoman Aphaluck Bhatiasevi told reporters in Geneva.
The agency has stressed that although the disease is "unstoppable" in the long term, slowing its spread is important to prevent hospitals being overwhelmed by the sheer number of new cases.
WHO stopped asking governments to report infections last week, saying it was "extremely difficult, if not impossible" for countries with large numbers of cases to keep track of each new one.
The health organization declared on July 11 a phase 6 pandemic due to the virus. WHO considers the overall severity of the influenza pandemic to be moderate.
According to
WHO's Web site:
The moderate assessment reflects that:
- Most people recover from infection without the need for hospitalization or medical care.
- Overall, national levels of severe illness from influenza A(H1N1) appear similar to levels seen during local seasonal influenza periods, although high levels of disease have occurred in some local areas and institutions.
- Overall, hospitals and health care systems in most countries have been able to cope with the numbers of people seeking care, although some facilities and systems have been stressed in some localities.
But the Stockholm-based European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, ECDC, said Monday there had been over 2,300 new reported cases in 24 hours, taking the global total to almost 140,000. Many more could have gone undetected, since the virus causes only mild illness in most cases that does not require medical treatment.
WHO did not give a breakdown of the deaths Tuesday. But as of last week, the United States reported 263 deaths, Canada reported 45 deaths and Britain had 29. According to WHO's last update on July 6, there were 119 deaths in Mexico.
Yet even Tuesday's figure of 700 deaths may seriously underestimate the true toll, experts say, because not all swine flu cases are being picked up due to testing limitations.
The Lancet paper, written by researchers at London's Imperial College, argues that school closures would allow more time for a vaccine to be produced and administered widely. Estimates for when this might be the case vary from September to the end of the year.
Slowing the pandemic would also limit the burden on national health care systems and reduce the peak in worker absenteeism, the paper argues.
France is among the countries reportedly considering school closures, though decisions would be made on a a case-by-case basis, Le Parisien daily reported Thursday.
France's Education Ministry has already prepared nearly 300 hours of educational programming for radio and television to allow those affected by school closures to follow their lessons, it said.
(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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